98 percent
by HealthPotion
Summary: "A lot of the time we become too focused on the people we've lost and forget about the people we still have in our lives." / University, Oikawa/OC. (who is pretty much a blank slate appearance wise so feel free to replace her name and treat this as a reader fic!)
1. Chapter 1

**+Info+**

Feel free to treat this as a reader fic! OC is pretty much a blank slate so I really won't mind if you change her name.

* * *

 **Lemon hunters:** story is mostly plot but I will update here with chapters that have anything sexual. I got'chu fam.

 _Chapter 15 - lime_

* * *

 **Playlist:** look up 'misshealthpotion' on YouTube, playlist is called '98 percent'. If you want to, of course. My music taste is weird and all over the place, so please don't feel obliged. The first three songs are what inspired this mess, the rest are random in no particular order. I'll keep adding to it as I go, it's just some stuff I like to listen to while writing this!

* * *

 **Key** \- it's the usual fanfic stuff:

"Talking."  
 _Thinking._

* * *

 **98 percent**

 **Chapter 1**

Ikeda Haruko was standing in front of the gym's door. She could hear volleyballs inside hitting the ground.

 _Everyone's already here. Okay. You got this._

She wrapped her arms around her tablet computer and clutched it to her chest, then took a few steps into the gym.

The boys who were practicing inside were too busy to notice her come in, which she was relieved by.

 _There he is. Shit, don't stare._

She closed her eyes for a bit, took a deep breath and started looking for the coach of the volleyball team inside. He was a few meters away focusing on their training. As she walked up to him, he noticed and greeted her.

"Ikeda-san! Glad to see you. I'm guessing all the paperwork is finished?" he asked.

"Yes, it's all done Mukai-sensei! I'm ready to roll." she said with a smile.

"Good to hear you so excited – the boys have been dying to meet you!"

She gave him a slight nod and chuckled. Mukai Hisao was the Shokey Gakuin University's boys' volleyball club coach. Soon after their short exchange, he called the team over.

Haruko felt a little tense as they were approaching. For one thing, even though she was not very short herself, they were still super tall. For another, she knew she had to put her game-face on.

As they stopped and gathered around eyeing her, the coach gave Haruko a "go on" look.

"Ah!" she said, turning to them, "Right, let me introduce myself. I'm Ikeda Haruko, I'll be your manager starting today."

After hearing a few "nice to meet you"s and "oooh!"s from around the group, the coach spoke up again.

"I expect you all to welcome Ikeda-san just like you welcomed your teammates, as she will be part of the team from now on. We'll take a short break now so feel free to chat and get to know each other."

The coach left the team and Haruko alone and for a moment she felt like she was surrounded by giants.

"Don't you worry Ikeda-san!" one of the guys said, breaking the silence and throwing his arm around her shoulder, "You'll fit right in, coach almost made it sound like we're some assholes with that serious tone!"

"Maki-san you are literally the biggest asshole here." one of the other guys said to him, making others snicker and making Maki let go of Haruko to go smack him.

"Not true. We all know Shittykawa's the biggest asshole here." another said.

"Iwa-chan! Honestly this is why I never make a good impression with you around. It's Oikawa, actually." Oikawa himself spoke up soon after, turning to Haruko, "Please ignore my friend. He's not good with the ladies-oomph!"

Oikawa winced mid-sentence after his friend hit him. "Anyway," he started, "name's Iwaizumi Hajime. The idiot here is Trashykawa Tooru."

Oikawa gave him a glare as the rest of the team members introduced themselves as well.

 _You're looking his way too much. Okay, to be fair they were being dramatic so it's fine. I think. Don't be weird._

"So," Iwaizumi spoke up again, turning to Haruko, "what brings you to us?"

"Ah, well," she began, "to be perfectly fair I don't know much about volleyball, but what I'm good at is organization. So I suppose…"

She kept on going for a while, trying to calm down her thoughts.

 _It's fine. Look at each and every one of them for a few seconds while you're talking, don't you dare stop on Oikawa. Just turn to him for a while to include him-GOD it should be illegal to look this good..aaand look away to the next person. It's fine. All good._

"…and while helping you guys out I can learn a bit more about time management, and, well, management in general." she finished, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Ah so it's a win for us and a win for Ike-chan!" Oikawa spoke up again.

 _I—Ike-chan? I mean I've heard him do the nickname thing to everyone but still that is just-_

"Say, Ike-chan," he said, grabbing her attention once again, "aren't you from one of my classes?"

"Hmm, probably?" _I am, I very much am, several actually._ "I think I have classes with most people here though. But since we're just a few weeks into the school year I guess I haven't had the chance to get to know everyone yet."

Before anyone could say anything else, a whistle blew and coach Mukai advised everyone to get back to practice. As the team left, Haruko went over to the coach who was waving to her.

"While they're busy, let me tell you more about your duties as a manager."

* * *

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I did it. I joined the volleyball club as a manager. I'm kind of ahamed? I guess? But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. To be perfectly fair, Oikawa isn't 100% the reason for joining. I really meant what I said to them, this will help me skill-wise. But he's still like 99% of it. I wanted to call my sister to tell her about this but I can already hear her calling me thirsty so I think I'll keep this to myself._

 _It's selfish, what I'm doing, I know. But even if I don't manage to get his attention I'll be satisfied with watching him play. Even watching him walk up the stairs in our lecture theatres, my god. The man belongs in a museum. Still can't get him out of my head when I saw him on the first day, though he definitely looks better with glasses. No glasses Oikawa – 10/10. Glasses Oikawa – 15/10. Plain hoodie, messy hair, just a regular ol' university student, except with a face taken straight out of a playgirl magazine._

 _God, I sound like one of his fangirls. Truth be told, though, I kind of wanted to join them at times. He seemed to be genuinely nice to them and the attention would have been flattering, but I figured I wouldn't get far with just following him around like that._

 _Being part of their team... that's a different story. Definitely beats looking at him through my tablet screen's reflection during lectures._

 _Do I want a relationship with the guy? No, probably not. Doesn't look like the type who would do well in a relationship anyway. Not like I know him, but rumours spread fast, and as much as I try not to judge he does give off a playboy vibe. Do I want to get with him? Yeah, probably. That would be fun._

 _Though… watching Oikawa play today, he seemed to have already gotten close to a completely new team. I think Iwaizumi was with him in high school from what I've heard, but the rest of them seem to have met him just this year. I imagine he would be pretty pissed if he were to find out why I joined. He seems to really care about volleyball so that could cause like, a massive problem._

 _Ah crap okay I just started realizing how much I could mess things up. If he does find out I'll probably get a hitman sent on me. Okay, maybe not something that bad, but surely I'd have to quit and rumors would ruin the rest of my time at university, cause who wants to be friends with the bitchy, manipulative manager, right? Eugh._

 _Ok ok ok, this is really not the time to be realizing how horrible I am. I've already put myself in this mess without thinking it through, so I might as well roll with it. Hopefully this will turn out to be fun._

 _Haruko xx_

* * *

Day two of Haruko's new club activities wasn't all too stressful. She was getting used to her duties and getting to know her new teammates better. She would be stuck with all of them for quite some time, so it wouldn't hurt to make friends. She still had trouble remembering all of their names apart from Oikawa and Iwaizumi and.. Mika? Mako?.. Maki! Those three seemed to be first years, though most of the team consisted of second and third years.

After practice, right before reaching the spot where she left her bike, a few girls approached her. They seemed to be students in her university as well.

"Ah excuse me!" one of them called out to Haruko, "are you the volleyball club's new manager? The one Oikawa-kun is in?"

She nodded, slowly.

 _Ah crap... they are probably a few of his fans... I completely forgot about them and didn't even realize this could be troubleso-_

"Ahhh that is so cool!" one of them exclaimed, making Haruko jump slightly and widen her eyes, "You gotta tell us everything!"

Haruko was dumbfounded. "..Eh?"

"You know! What he's like in practice! We've seen a few of his games but-"

"-but it's not the same as seeing him up-close while he's playing!" the other girl finished, rising her index finger up.

"Yeah yeah!"

"Um.." Haruko was a little shocked to see them be so.. nice? And cheerful? And not jealous? "Well, I haven't spent much time around Oi-er, the team. So I can't really say much, I've been a bit distracted by all the work."

"Aww! Well, if there's anything we can help with to make Oikawa-kun's games or practices any better, please let us know!" one of them said, excited.

"Yeah!" the other one said, a little too cheerfully, staring at Haruko all starry-eyed.

"Oh! Um, okay, I'll let you know if we need any help at all. But… why haven't either of you applied to the manager position? When I was submitting my application, they said I was the only one..." Haruko wondered, scratching the back of her head.

The two girls looked at each other, and one of them spoke. "To be honest I'm really not that into volleyball? Or being a manager?" The other girl was nodding as she spoke. "I mean, yeah it would mean getting to be next to Oikawa-kun more, but we know how seriously he takes volleyball so… wouldn't it be kind of selfish to join just to be around him?"

Ouch. Right on target.

"Haha yeah. You're… completely right." Haruko said, trying her best to keep a smile on her face.

 _How are his fangirls so respectful oh my god, I am literally worse than a fangirl. Officially._

"Plus, we're happy he has someone to look after him and his team! I'm sure he appreciates it too."

 _Please stop talking, you're both way too nice and I really want someone to knock me out right now._

"Th-thank you both. I'll do my best to-"

"Now, now – who's bothering our precious manager-chan?"

Haruko felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and and jumped slighly - before she could even recognize the voice behind her, she saw the girls giggle and wave goodbye to her and the man behind her.

Oikawa let go and went a little bit ahead of Haruko, waving the girls goodbye as they were running off.

"Sorry if I startled you, Ike-chan, and for the girls bothering you." he sighed, then looked back to where they ran off, "They're all really lovely people, but they can be a bit much sometimes." He lifted his hand behind his head.

"Oh!" it took a while for Haruko to come back to her senses, "That's okay! They were actually super nice and respectful and all. It's no big deal." she said, shaking her head. He couldn't have just come here to spook them off, right?

"I'm glad! So!" he clapped his hands together, "Would you like to come play laser tag?"

"…..Eh?" she stood there a little confused.

 _Laser tag? With Oikawa? Why is he asking me to go with him to-_

"Oh, well, me and the guys-"

 _The guys. Of course. All of us together. I'm an idiot._

"-usually do something for the newbies. Me and Iwa-chan at least, we would always go do something fun with the new people on the team when I was in high school, and since we haven't had the chance to do anything yet this year, we figured we would wait a little until more people joined so we could all go together, manager-chan included!"

Oikawa pointed both of his index fingers at her. He looked so excited, there was probably no one on the planet able to say no to him when he was like that.

"Sure!" she said, smiling, "Laser tag is an interesting choice though, why?"

"It's finally my pick this year. Used to be paint ball most of the time but…" he looked to the side and squinted, "Every time we would go, instead of playing like normal human beings most people would just chase _me_ down. Especially Iwa-chan. I still remember the bruises I had after he pinned me down and shot about a dozen of close-up paintballs at me."

He seemed to be really concerned by that memory but Haruko couldn't do much except _try_ and hold her laughter. It didn't work. In the end Oikawa couldn't help but join her as well, realizing that does make for an amusing memory.

"Glad you're enjoying my traumatic past," he continued between laughs, "but I have to be off. I need to put my things away and change, we'll all meet up at the gates at around seven, I'll see you then?"

"Mhm! I'll do the same." Haruko nodded, heading towards her bike once again, "See you Oikawa-san!"

With that Oikawa waved and was on his way, and she was about to be as well. She got on her bike and was about to start pedaling home, but her legs didn't seem to move at first.

 _I want to ask myself why I'm feeling like this but god damnit I perfectly know why. They're all being super nice to me and I am an absolute selfish bitch._

She looked down on her bike.

 _Maybe this was all a horrible idea after all… But what am I supposed to do now, tell them oh hey guys, sorry but I'm gonna quit on day two because I only joined to get with your captain and now I feel bad, bye?_

She sighed.

 _What have I gotten myself into…_

Haruko took a deep breath and started riding home, memories of today's unexpected friends she made still with her.

* * *

 **A/N:** Don't worry! They'll be at each other's throats soon enough and it's gonna be super fun! :D

There's absolutely no way I'm going to bombard you with random names for every single team member, I'm here for the Oikawa trash and so are you, Maki or whatever his name was is literally just a filler character that has to be here to make them team look more full, so is the coach haha. Actually, yknow what, every single team member is gonna be named Maki now. They're all brothers. The entire team except Oikawa and Iwaizumi. All of them are Maki.

Also: respectful fangirls give me life. Protect them.

Also x2: Oikawa-is-a-really-nice-guy-until-you-give-him-a-reason-not-to-be also gives me life.

Also x3: what if: double tsundere and Oikawa-isn't-the-one-breaking-hearts-this-time.

Also x4: Oiks and Iwa go to the same uni and noone can tell me otherwise. No. Just no. I refuse.

Reviews would be super helpful because I haven't written anything in 9-10 years and I am rusty af! Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 2**

When Haruko got back to the university's gates, a few people were already there.

"Heeeey guys!" she greeted them. Maki was there, as well as two more guys from the team. She pretended she totally remembers their names. Yep. Totally.

"Yooo, Ikeda-san!" Maki greeted, "We're still waiting on Iwa-san and Oikawa-san." he said as she approached them. "Fashionably late as always."

"Well they're on their way for sure," another one said, _seriously WHAT is his name_ , looking at his phone and then turning it to the rest of the team, "looks like Oikawa already forced Iwa into taking a selfie right after they met up, he just posted it."

Haruko couldn't help but chuckle at how unsatisfied Iwaizumi looked in that picture.

"The man is an absolute Instagram-whore." Maki added.

"Dude, so are you?"

"No I'm not!"

"I _literally_ saw you take a selfie like 5 minutes ago."

Haruko shook her head at them, smiling. Boys. Their bickering seemed to make time fly by – Iwaizumi and Oikawa showed up soon after.

"Heeeey assholes!" Maki yelled out to them as they were approaching.

Oikawa put his hand next to his mouth and yelled back, "Takes one to know one Maki-chan!" and with that Maki shut up, grunting.

Haruko eyed Oikawa as he and Iwaizumi were walking towards them. He was wearing his glasses again, as well as a grey hoodie with NASA's logo on it. _Haha nerd._

"Sorry we're late," Iwaizumi started when they finally met up, "Shittykawa here needed some likes to stroke his ego."

"Hey! You're in the picture too!" he pouted.

"Didn't ask to be." Iwa gave him a glare. "You all ready to go?" he asked, turning back to the group.

With a nod, they were on their way.

* * *

The journey to the entertainment complex was not prolonged. If anything, it was fun listening to Oikawa and Iwaizumi argue over "is a hotdog a sandwich", which took up pretty much the entire journey. The two seemed to be the backbone of the entire group, and the whole team really.

"Say, where are the rest of the guys anyway?" Haruko asked, as many of the volley-boys were missing.

"Couldn't make it. I think most of them had work this evening, Shiro-chan had to help his dad with his store, and Kenta-chan wasn't feeling well." Oikawa said. Haruko had no idea who those people were. "Their loss!"

"Not everyone gets to be a freeloader like you, Trashykawa." Iwaizumi spoke, "Only reason I gave up my evening shift today was because I want to kick your ass."

"At laser tag? You actually think you'll be able to-"

"No I meant in general."

"Aww you don't actually mean that, Iwa-chaaan!" Oikawa threw his arm over Iwa's shoulder.

Iwaizumi gave him a glare and threatened him with his fist, after which Oikawa immediately jumped back from him raising his hands in defense, grinning at the other boy.

 _Yep. Those two are absolutely inseparable._

* * *

The entertainment complex was huge. Following their agenda, their first visit was to the laser tag building. Luckily, they had just enough people to split into teams of three – Haruko ended up with Oikawa and guy number one, _oh my god, what on earth is his name?,_ while Iwaizumi, Maki and guy number two were on the other.

After they were given silly laser tag vests and guns, the teams were sent to two different parts of the play area. Their feet on the starting line, both teams were ready to kick some ass.

"3, 2, 1… GO!" the robotic countdown went off and they all split up in the laser tag maze.

It was quite a big area and Haruko tried to stick to the walls in case she runs into any enemies. _Maybe we should have stuck together…_ she thought, trying not to be the first one eliminated.

After a minute of sneaking around, she heard her gun do a slight beep. She looked at the tiny LCD screen on the side of it and noticed that one of her teammates was down.

 _Ah crap… So that was either Oikawa or the other guy… I really gotta go do some damage. But where is everyone?.._

She kept going on for a little longer, and as she turned a corner she gasped. "Shit!"

Maki was a few meters away from her and already had his laser gun raised at her, but as he was about to pull his trigger his vest went red – someone else got to him first.

"Aw WHAT! Ugh!" he groaned throwing his arms up in the air and started making his way out of the maze.

Haruko was staring at him for a while and then looked around – no one was there and while she did manage to point at Maki, she never managed to pull the trigger in time. So who..?

"Yo-hoo, Ike-chan!" came a loud whisper from above her. Haruko looked up to find Oikawa on one of the walls, laying down, sniping people from above. He smiled and gave her a victory sign.

"Woah hey thanks! How'd you get up there?" she asked him, trying not to be too noisy. He didn't say anything, just pointed to the side of the wall he was on. Haruko went around the corner he pointed behind to find some very poorly lit stairs leading up.

"Ah man I love it when they do these secret area things!" she said, going up, "I feel like I'm in a video game."

"Shh! Come here and get down, I think see someone nearby!" he told her, scooting a bit to the side. She laid down on her stomach, elbows supporting her front. Both of them were snickering like children.

"I think it's Daiki-chan…" Oikawa said as he came into view a little more.

 _Daiki. Right. Daiki is his name. I am going to forget this in 5 minutes aren't I?_

They kept quiet for a bit, as difficult as it was not to snicker as Daiki was approaching. When he was close enough, Oikawa and Haruko released all hell loose.

Needless to say Daiki got eliminated before he even realized what happened. "OI! That's cheating you little shits!" he said to them when he finally realized where the lasers came from.

"It ain't cheating if it's in the game! Out you go Daiki-chan!" Oikawa teased, waving him goodbye. Grunting, Daiki started to head towards the exit.

Laughing, the two turned to each other and high-fived. "One more to go! Nice doing business with you, manager-chan!"

"Right back at you, captain-chan." Haruko teased, making Oikawa chuckle.

The guy seemed to be having the time of his life, and such honest, innocent and sweet laughs from him made Haruko smile. For a moment, she remembered why she was originally there. She almost started to overthink her original intents again, getting herself upset over her actions.

But before she could even begin to do that, all of a sudden she saw Oikawa's vest go red, followed by her own less than a second later.

"EH?" they exclaimed at the same time, looked at each other and then quickly turned to see the culprit behind them.

"What's up, losers?"

Iwaizumi, standing behind them on the very same stairs they used to get up there in the first place, slung his laser gun over his shoulder and gave them a victorious smirk.

"OH COME ON." the two yelled in defeat.

* * *

"Aaaargh and it was going so well too!" Oikawa whined as the group was walking towards the exit.

"Not well enough apparently." Iwa said, smirking at him. He wasn't one to boast about victory, but you could still tell he was proud of taking the other team out.

"Ohoho, we're not done! I'm not about to lose to you that easily, Iwa-chan."

"You already did though."

Oikawa stopped, looked back at him as well as the group, and pointed at the nearby arcade building.

"Man are you serious? It's like 9pm, we have classes in the morning and we still gotta get back home." Daiki whined.

"They're open until 11 on Thursdays though." Oikawa protested and was swiftly on his way leaving the rest of the group behind.

"I didn't mean-.. aaand he's gone. Ugh. You guys gonna stay? I think I'm gonna head back." Daiki sighed.

"I don't have class in the morning so I think I can hang around still." Haruko said turning to the other two boys for their opinions.

"I think I'm heading out with Daiki. We have class together tomorrow actually." _Damnit, WHAT is this dude's name?.._

"Alright," Iwaizumi spoke, "I should look after that child anyway so I'm gonna stay behind. I'll see you tomorrow."

They waved their goodbyes and split up, leaving Iwaizumi and Haruko to catch up with Oikawa who was well on his way to the arcade building.

* * *

"No."

"Pleaaaaaaaase!"

"NO."

"Come on, what, you scared I'm going to beat you? Chicken-chan!"

"No, I'm just smart enough not to go into a battle I know I can't win."

Oikawa really did try his best to get Iwaizumi to play a game with him. A game he's good at.

"Not only that," Iwa continued, "I'm not about to look like a dweeb playing this."

It was Dance Dance Revolution.

"Hhhhhhh," Oikawa then swiftly turned to Haruko and put his hands on her shoulders, "Ike-chan! Let's go!"

"EH?" she said widening her eyes, surprised by his lightning movement. "I mean, I guess I could try..?" she could see Iwaizumi behind Oikawa, shaking his head and mouthing "don't do it" silently.

But she felt cornered and had already agreed, so Oikawa was on his way to shove his money into the DDR machine. Iwa took the responsibility of holding their things and before Haruko could step on her side, she felt him pat her back.

"Rest in pieces, Ikeda-san."

With that, he stood back a bit to watch them play and Oikawa started picking a song. He found what he was looking for quite quickly.

"Wait, high difficulty?" she asked when she saw his pick, "Are you sure? I thought these are like, super hard to keep up with?"

Oikawa turned to her with the most devilish smile she has ever seen, which took her off guard.

"What," he started, "you're a chicken-chan, too?"

She narrowed her eyes. Oikawa had this...aura around him, which made Haruko unable to deny a challenge like that. It's like the only thing driving her at that moment was the desire to beat him at his own game. She couldn't explain it, but she _had_ to play. Besides, he can't possibly be _that_ good.

"You're on."

* * *

He was _that_ good.

"You've got to be joking." she said, panting and holding onto her knees, staring at the results on the screen.

With a ridiculous "Perfect!" streak and a score of about triple than what Haruko got, Oikawa was standing tall, being satisfied with himself, grinning at Haruko.

"Alright dweebs, you ready to go home yet?" Iwaizumi said, handing their things back to them as they stepped off the DDR machine.

"Yeees pleaaaase," Haruko, still catching her breath, said, "I forgot how tiring DDR is, wow."

They started heading towards the exit, small talk in place, but their plan to leave foiled again by Oikawa's very long gasp. Iwaizumi sighed, giving off a "what now" aura and they both turned to the direction the gasp came from.

Oikawa has his hands and face squished to a claw machine nearby. When the other two came over to see what the fuss is about, he pointed at the alien head pillow behind the glass.

"I _want_ it."

"Trashykawa, you literally do _not_ need that." Iwa said, trying to pull him away by his hoodie, but failing. Oikawa didn't budge. Iwa groaned. "You're not even good at these! And besides, they're rigged!"

"Hmm… While true for most claw machines, this one shouldn't be." Haruko started, making both guys turn to her. She pointed at the claw behind the glass, "It's a three-claw. Not a two-claw. They're usually pretty okay as long as the prizes aren't too heavy. And if you ask me, that pillow doesn't look heavy at all."

Oikawa gave Iwaizumi a "you see!" look, while Iwaizumi whispered, shaking his head, "please don't encourage him." Oikawa started digging in his pockets, only finding a single coin left. He had one shot.

"Got any other tips claw-machine-senpai?" he turned to Haruko.

She chuckled at the nickname, "Well, my mom used to be really good at these… She always told me to make sure the claw completely stops shaking between movements. That's all I've got." she shrugged, slightly.

He nodded and threw the coin in.

The concentration on his face was almost comical. Steady, steaaaady.

"Wow, you actually picked it up-" Iwa began as the pillow began rising, but was abruptly cut off by a "Shh!" from the other two. The atmosphere was intense.

Iwaizumi couldn't believe that his friend finally had someone to humour him.

The claw was moving slowly towards the prize drop, wobbling a lot more than they would prefer. Oikawa had his hands put together and pressed to his lips, it was questionable if he was breathing at all.

Then, right before reaching the prize drop, the alien pillow escaped from the claw and fell back into the prize pile.

"OH COME ON!" the two yelled in unison again, as Iwaizumi burst into laughing behind them.

* * *

The trio were heading home and when they finally reached the university's gates again to split up, it was quite late.

"You sure you don't want us to walk you home?" Iwa asked Haruko as they were about to leave.

"No, no, I'll be fine, I live like 10 minutes from here. Besides, I walk home from work at worse times on the weekends so I'm kind of used to this."

"See? Told you you're the only freeloader on the team." Iwaizumi teased Oikawa, making him roll his eyes. "We'll see you tomorrow then."

"Byeee Ike-chaaan! It's been fun!"

Haruko waved goodbye to them and went on her way. It was true, she lived really close to the university, and for the rent she was paying for it was an absolute bargain. Her apartment was tiny, but it was enough.

She looked up at the night's sky while going home. Today was an absolute blast. It's been a while since she felt so part of a group of friends, especially ones who, just after a few days, treated her like family.

 _My original intentions may have been unfair to them_. she thought, _All of them, especially Oikawa when I think about it. He does seem to care deeply about his team, his friends, even though he won't show it blatantly. But I don't regret joining them. All I regret are my original intentions, but I can make up for those by doing what I do best._

She stopped for a moment, still looking up.

 _Being helpful._

* * *

 **AN:** Oh, heavily dialogue-based this one! I just wanna throw them both into a spiral of emotions already but I gotta build it up ya know. Also updates will probably become slower as university starts soon. Plus, that new story hype won't last forever haha, but I do want to finish it! Hope you like it, once again, reviews and suggestions would be very helpful.


	3. Chapter 3

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 3**

When Haruko came home, she made herself some tea, sat down at her desk and opened her laptop. She lived in a convenient little apartment – it was small, but had two floors. Well, half of a second floor, her desk was directly below an indoor-balcony type of bedroom. She had a tiny kitchen connected to the bathroom that was right by the stairs leading up to her bed. Bed was an overstatement too – it was literally just a mattress on the floor. All that said, she was happy with it anyway – it gave her a chance to move out of her parents' home, it was close to the university, and because it was so cramped the rent was low, too. She put up some fairy lights to hang down from her bed _room_ , which made things much cozier. Fairy lights just make everything better, you know?

 _Right-o. Let's see what we have so far._

She turned on some music, (which she had downloaded 100% legally, for sure) opened up her cloud storage and found her volleyball notes file. She was taking notes on her tablet during practice about things coach Mukai was telling her about – the rules, her duties, what's the current situation on things like tournaments, finances, equipment and so on. If she was going to take this seriously, now was a good time to start.

The biggest problem the volleyball club had at the moment was money. The university funding was minimal – so minimal that when equipment would break down the coach and adviser would have to chip in to replace it. Which means that the university is pretty much out of the picture when it came to money problems.

The club had already scheduled a practice match with Noshiro – a college northwest of Miyagi – in two weeks, and coach Mukai mentioned that currently they're trying to raise funds for the travel expenses. There was no bullet train in between the two cities, meaning renting a bus was their only option.

Haruko kept going on with her research until late night – at around three in the morning she finally decided to leave it for the next day.

 _It's not all that bad of a sum to raise…_ she thought, yawning, _as long as you'd have the people to help._ _But the volley-boys need to practice so we'll need someone else's help…_

She closed her laptop and went upstairs. Once she changed and threw her clothes into the nearby laundry basket, she figured she should go to bed.

A moment of pondering later Haruko went back downstairs to play video games.

* * *

 _Eughhhh I really need to get my sleep schedule under control…_

Haruko was happy to find a single energy drink left in her fridge this morning. The rain didn't help though – not only did it make her even sleepier, it also meant she has to walk to university instead of taking her bike, which would normally wake her up a bit. Haruko didn't have class until the afternoon on Fridays, but she found it difficult to wake up nevertheless, considering she went to sleep at 7.30am.

She folded her umbrella up as she entered the main building of the university. With 10 minutes left until class, she was in no rush to get there. As she was heading towards the lecture theatre, she heard a few familiar voices. Oikawa was leaning on the windowsill talking to the two girls she met the other day. He was eating something. Something that looked very appetizing to the breakfast-less Haruko.

 _They're persistent, the girls. Not that I can blame them._ Haruko smiled.

"Oh! Manager-chan!" to her surprise, the callout didn't come from Oikawa but from one of the girls instead, who waved to her. Haruko reasoned they must have picked that nickname up from Oikawa.

"Heeey." she greeted no one in particular, approaching them, yawning.

"Whoa, you look like a bit of a mess Ike-chan." Oikawa said.

"Good morning to you too, captain." Haruko grunted, before realizing his voice was more worried than insulting. She took a sip of her energy drink and eyed the small box of… buns? Cinnamon rolls? Whatever those were, sitting on the windowsill between Oikawa and the girls. "Smart move, bringing breakfast." she approved.

"It's… it's almost 1pm, Ike-chan." Haruko gave Oikawa a _"don't."_ look and shook her head. She really wasn't a morning person, no matter how late in the afternoon her morning was. "Heh, either way, this wasn't my idea," he munched on the bun he had in his hand, "the girls brought them over."

"Oh! Please, try some!" one of them said, handing the box over to Haruko. Their niceness took her off guard again; these girls were like cinnamon rolls themselves.

Haruko took a bite out of her newly acquired bun – no, it was definitely a cinnamon roll – and let out a small "mm!" of approval. She turned to the girls once again.

"Did yhou ghys", she swallowed her bite, "sorry – did you guys make these?"

"Yup!"

"We're from the baking club!"

They seemed to have a habit of finishing each other's sentences. _Baking club? That's a thing?_

Haruko looked at her cinnamon roll. Then at the box. Then at girls and back at her bun again. Idea.

"Oh my god," she started, looking back at the girl who offered her the roll, "Give me your number."

She was taken aback a bit and gave Haruko a sheepish smile, "I-what? Uhm… I'm flattered but I'm not really-"

"What, no, no," Haruko shook her head, taking her phone out, "you wanted to help out the volleyball boys yeah?" she pointed at Oikawa.

"Wha…" Oikawa went, completely lost in how the conversation even got to this point. But Haruko was already typing the girl's number into her phone.

"I'll message you and explain later, I gotta go to class now, but I have an idea." she immediately started walking away leaving the confused trio behind her. Still munching on the roll, she put her phone back into her pocket and noticed Oikawa catch up with her.

"Wait uuuup, Ike-chan," he said, "I have no clue what that was about, buuuut what I do know is that we have class together now. You have anyone sitting next to you?" he asked, turning to her.

Haruko shook her head, cinnamon roll in her mouth. _Yes I do, but that guy is as bland as they get, he can find a new seat._

"Well you do now!" Oikawa said excitedly, "Iwa-chan isn't taking this class, it gets lonely up there."

Haruko gave him a thumbs up, trying her best to finish the cinnamon bun before class starts. She threw out her empty can of energy drink before she walked in and sat down, Oikawa following her and sitting down to her right.

 _Now this definitely beats looking at him through my tablet screen. This is a good day._

The bland boy came in a minute later and looked a bit irritated after seeing that his seat was taken, but thankfully, didn't say anything and just found a seat towards the back – most likely Oikawa's old seat, as the class was fairly full.

She took out her tablet and tablet pen as their tutor walked in, ready to _try_ and process what he's saying. For Haruko it was still way too early to be studying.

* * *

"What did you _do_ last night?" Oikawa whispered to Haruko halfway into the class, noticing that she's barely capable of paying attention.

She rubbed her eyes, "Video games. Usually I wouldn't crash like this, I think I'm just a bit overwhelmed with all the extra work lately."

"How so?"

"Well, I was just working Friday and Sunday nights during the summer… And now I have to study, work, and that gets topped off with manager duties for the club. It's just a few weeks into the first semester and I already want to knock myself out."

Oikawa chuckled. "Living the student life, huh?"

"Easy for you to say, _freeloader-chan_." she teased, smirking at him.

"Hey, that wasn't my decision!" Oikawa said a little too loudly, earning a "shh!" from the back. He then went back to whispering, "My folks thought I won't be able to handle studying, sports _and_ a job. They insisted to pay for my expenses until I graduate." he shrugged, "Not that I'm complaining."

Haruko stretched, her sleepiness going away bit by bit as the day went on. "I'd kill for that."

"You sure joining our club was a good idea? Don't get me wrong, it's great having you around, but you seem to have a lot on your hands." he asked.

"Ah, well, I have my... reasons." she wanted to snarl at her own comment, "Besides, I don't have any regrets so far. Made some good friends, you know? You guys are fun."

He smiled, "I know I'm going to sound like Iwa-chan when I say this, but don't overwork yourself."

Oikawa went back to taking notes after that and the two sat in silence, their attention drawn back to the lecture.

Haruko leaned back on her chair. She meant what she had said, she really did make good friends. She glanced over at Oikawa.

 _As nice as this is, it's as far as I can go. He's unbelievably cute but I really can't pursue anything more, it would be unfair to everyone else… And most importantly to him._

She looked back to her notes.

 _He doesn't deserve to be treated like some boy-toy. He's a good guy._

* * *

Oikawa and Haruko split up after class - she told him she needs to take care of something before she joins everyone in practice. He, on the other hand, headed straight there, wondering what she's up to. Their new manager was a bit of a mystery to him, but she seemed to be keen on helping them out, and that was more than enough. _Besides, she's fun to hang out with._

He was the first one to show up at the gym, which was his daily ritual. He liked to practice on his own for a while before anyone else would show up – even though Iwaizumi would give him a hard time about overdoing it. But with no one there it was easy for him to practice jump-serves, so he reasoned that it's worth listening to Iwa complain in exchange for it.

Oikawa took a deep breath every time he would do a serve. Most of the time during the day his mind would constantly be buried under thoughts about everything ever – volleyball, studies, space, food, memories, worries and so on. But this was the one time when his mind would be completely blank, and it was so refreshing.

After about a half an hour the rest of the guys started showing up, as well as the coach, but Haruko was nowhere to be seen, still. The team decided to do some 3 on 3 matches once enough people gathered.

As the boys were busy playing, Haruko finally showed up about 15 minutes later. Oikawa only noticed her as she was already talking to the coach about something.

He kept eyeing the conversation for a while. Coach Mukai seemed to be delighted with whatever she had told him, and a while later she turned around to Oikawa and pointed straight at him, after which they both laughed. Oikawa squinted at the two, trying to figure out what the hell is going on behind his back, forgetting for a moment where he was – his distraction was rewarded with a ball landing on his head.

"Oi, Trashykawa!" Iwaizumi called out to him, "You keep that up I'll bench you myself."

He shook his head and directed his attention back to the game.

* * *

After practice most people decided to go home, whoever didn't was invited for drinks at Oikawa's. It was Friday, after all.

"You coming, Ike-chan?" he asked her as she was about to leave.

"You have no idea how happy I would be if I could," she started, "but I have to work tonight. I haven't had a free Friday for moooonths." she whined.

"That's a shame. Where _do_ you work anyway?" Iwa asked.

"The Old House. It's a bar not far from here, come by sometime!" she said, waving goodbye to them. "Have fun you guys!"

They wished Haruko a good weekend and she was on her way. A minute or two into her walk home, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She got a message.

* * *

 _From: Oikawa_

 _To: Haruko_

 _Hey, what was that whole thing with the coach about btw? :o Pointing and laughing is rude, Ike-chan. :P_

* * *

Haruko smiled and wondered where he got her number. Probably the same place she got his and everyone else's – coach Mukai.

* * *

 _To: Oikawa_

 _From: Haruko_

 _Sorry! You'll find out on Monday._

* * *

 _From: Oikawa_

 _To: Haruko_

 _! ! ! :o_

* * *

 **AN:**

me: sees two reviews

me: aggressively opens microsoft word

Seriously though thank you guys! Your kind words keep me going, I really hope you like it so far! Please let me know anything I should improve on, too! I feel like this chapter was a bit OC heavy, I'll try to tone it down – I know ya'll are here for Oiks and so am I haha.

Yay they're friends! Enjoy that while you can, that won't last long.

New chapter new cover - been drawing Oiks a lot. Wish I could just do a gallery, FF really needs to step their game up.


	4. Chapter 4

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 4**

When Haruko came home from her way too long of a shift it was already 3am. Closing shifts were Haruko's nemesis, but she did what she had to do – rent wasn't going to pay itself. She got a text from Oikawa soon after she came home, inviting her to join them if she still has the energy, but she turned him down – Haruko was glad the boys were having fun but the only thing on her mind now was sleep.

Oikawa's text were, to put it lightly, a mess at this point. She was sure they've all had _at least_ one drink too much, and figured it would be fun to see the guys at their worst. Haruko chuckled at the thought and texted Oikawa back telling him she will try to make it next time – provided she doesn't have to work.

Haruko had a long Saturday ahead of her so she got ready for bed, but then got one last text from Oikawa before going to sleep. After that Haruko was sure they're bound to show up at the bar she works in one day or another. Silly boys.

* * *

 _From: Oikawa_

 _To: Haruko_

 _We;ll bring th party to u thennn ! !_

* * *

The weekend was full of work, both money-related work and volleyball-related work for Haruko. But once Monday came, she was sure it was worth wasting her one day off preparing.

Not like she was the one doing most of the work, anyway.

After her morning lecture Haruko made her way downstairs to see how things were going – it was lunch time, which means the girls should have finished setting up by now. Once she reached the main lobby, she was thrilled.

A giant banner with the words "Bake Sale" was hanging behind a large table full of baked goods – the two girls she met before, as well as a few others, were busy at work. Haruko figured there would be plenty of hungover, starving students today, but she didn't expect the university's staff to be there too – the baking club sure knew what they were doing. Luckily for Haruko, they were easy to convince to do this, seeing as most of them were Oikawa's fangirls.

Haruko weaseled through the fairly big crowd and went behind the table to talk to the girls.

"Hey! How are things?" she asked Emi, one of the girls she had originally met. Her friend Fumi was nearby dealing with students. The only reason Haruko remembered their names was because they matched. Emi and Fumi. _They should date each other_ , she thought.

"Manager-chan!" Honestly, out of all the things, why did she have to pick up on that nickname? "Everything is going way better than we thought! The office apparently sent out an email to all the students about the bake sale, we've sold out on a few things so we took some orders for tomorrow."

She was like a little bakery-dealer.

"At this rate," Fumi said from the back, "we'll be done in no time!"

* * *

Oikawa wasn't one to miss out on a bake sale – especially when there was a chance for fresh milk bread to be there. He didn't have class until after lunch, but made his way to university sooner than usual, making sure he doesn't miss it.

"Ya-hoo, Iwa-chan!" he waved at Iwa meeting up with him at the gates. Iwaizumi gave him a slight nod and they headed towards the main building.

"So why'd you want to come in early anyway?" he asked, turning to Oikawa.

"Didn't you get the email yesterday?" Oikawa raised his eyebrow, "There's a bake sale, apparently."

"Seriously?" he squinted, "We literally could have just gone to the bakery down the street."

"But they always have the same stuff!"

"And the baking club doesn't? Haven't those girls fed you every recipe they have by now?" Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

* * *

Haruko waved to the two boys who we're trying to make their way through the crowd – one of them more eagerly than the other. Really, the lobby was way too small for a university this size.

"Heeeey!"

Oikawa looked up, surprised to see Haruko behind the table. "Ike-chan? Are you cheating on us with the baking club?" he teased.

She laughed. Before she could answer, Iwaizumi poked him and after getting his attention, pointed up at the bake sale banner. Oikawa squinted, trying to read the text underneath.

"All profits go to the Shokey Gakuin VBC… Ah!" he exclaimed, turning back to Haruko, "You did this?"

Haruko put her hand behind her head, "Well, I only organized it. The girls did all the work." she said, looking their way. "They were… easy to convince. Hey girls!"

They turned to Haruko.

"Look who's here." she pointed at Oikawa, her actions followed by giggles and blushes from the girls. She chuckled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Iwaizumi joined her in being entertained by Oikawa's dumbfounded face.

"You're kidding…" he said after they turned their attention back to the hungry students.

"Not at all. Once they heard the volleyball club needs help they agreed with no questions asked. Your charm is really coming in handy." she teased, blushing slightly after realizing what she had just said. "Um. You might want to get in the queue before there's nothing left. No cuts, even if you're from the club!"

She reached over the table and spun Oikawa around, then lightly pushed him towards the end of the queue, Iwaizumi laughing and following his friend. Haruko then decided to help the girls deal with the starving students.

What Haruko said, though, didn't go unnoticed by Oikawa. He was definitely entertained by the fact that she found him charming. Sure, she could have meant that the baking club girls found him charming, but he would much rather go with the first option.

* * *

"I'm super sorry but I have class now, you all good to pack up?" Haruko asked Emi. She was standing in front of the table now, together with Oikawa and Iwaizumi, whom she had class with Monday afternoons.

"Yeah we'll be fine! You go on ahead. We'll head over to the gym afterwards to let coach Mukai know how it went." Emi said, giving her a thumbs up.

As they were about to head out, Oikawa stopped her and Iwa. "Hold on!"

He took his phone out. "No event happened if there's no selfie to prove it!"

Haruko chuckled. Of course he would. Before she could even protest, he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, lifting his phone up and shouting out to the girls behind him to make a pose. He made sure the banner was in the picture too.

"Iwa-chan, come here, I don't have a third arm to force you this time."

Iwaizumi groaned, but decided to humor his friend today. He stood behind them, making the most half-assed peace sign imaginable.

The entire time Oikawa was trying to compose his work-of-art selfie, he had Haruko close to him.

 _Why am I nervous. We are friends. This is what friends do. My GOD he smells good._

She flinched slightly at her last thought, but, thankfully, Oikawa was too busy with the selfie to notice. She smiled at the camera.

* * *

"Hey, what's your Instagram?" he asked Haruko as they were walking to class, "I'll tag you."

Oikawa handed his phone to her.

Haruko gave herself a moment to think – not to remember her username, but to figure out if she has anything embarrassing on there. _Hope not._

She took his phone and typed in her username, then gave it back, noting the cute space case he had. The man really liked space.

The trio split up as they went into the lecture theatre, Iwaizumi and Oikawa apparently had seats a few rows behind her. As the lecture began, Haruko found herself being distracted by her phone.

She made sure to follow Oikawa back on Instagram, and found Iwaizumi through him as well.

The two were so much like night and day, it was incredible.

Oikawa was posting selfies pretty much every day, if not several times per day. Every one of them had a near perfect angle, a filter and sometimes some hearts or stars drawn on them. Oikawa seemed to do a peace sign as a natural reflex at this point. There were plenty of selfies with Iwaizumi and a few with the other volley-boys, the newest one being the one he took today. There were also plenty of pictures of them, to put it blatantly, doing stupid shit. She snorted at a picture of him and the team stealing a traffic sign.

He had a few thousand followers.

Iwaizumi's account, on the other hand, was barely ever updated. He only seemed to work up the nerve to use it after a few drinks, as a lot of them were just pictures of Oikawa sleeping in awkward places. He had a total of one (1) selfie on his account, and that was what he used for his icon. Iwa had 23 followers.

Haruko went back to Oikawa's account to check out the picture he posted today.

"Three cheers for manager-chan and the baking club!", followed by 3 billion emojis and hashtags, was the description he put down. She smiled and took a screenshot.

It was a good photo.

She kept scrolling through his account for a while - he seemed to have it for years so there was plenty of content. Over the few years he just kept getting hotter – Haruko almost scolded herself for the thought, but then gave up, figuring she's only human. The man was eye-candy, nothing could be done about that. There was nothing wrong in finding someone attractive.

 _Hm?_

Most of Oikawa's photos seemed to have a very visible flow to them, but at one point it seemed like they cut off. Haruko checked the dates below them – she was correct. There was about a half of a year of photos missing. She went into the photo right after the gap and it seemed like it was just another daily post, with nothing out of the ordinary. She figured there would be something in the comments between the lines of "where have you been", but there was nothing. Just regular comments.

 _Did he delete them?_

Haruko wondered what could have happened. She wanted to ask, but shook her head – that would make things weird.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this is a bit short! I've been avoiding being a responsible adult for a while as it is so I really need to do some work, but I also don't want to leave you guys empty handed so yeah. Love u! (also I wanted to call IG Binstagram to follow the bootleg culture hq has but whatever haha) (I loved that monster hunter OVA they had sm with the bootleg consoles, bootleg humor gives me life)


	5. Chapter 5

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 5**

The next few months went by as if time didn't exist. Haruko was getting used to her weekly routine of university – volleyball club – work – university and things seemed to be going well. Sure, it was exhausting at first, but it was worth it. She enjoyed taking trips to practice matches with the team, even if it meant coming back way late in the evening when she had class next morning. Hanging out with the volley-boys and cheering them on was fun, and the guys really seemed to like her as well. It's been so long since she had such good company – Haruko's coworkers were nice, especially her manager, but this was different.

Things were good.

So, obviously, everything had to go to shit at some point.

* * *

On Thursdays, Haruko and Oikawa had just one class in the afternoons, which had a pretty chill lecture every time. So the two sat at the very back, in a corner, usually goofing off. Iwaizumi wasn't taking this class, so Oikawa invited Haruko to sit with him, and while she had no interest in this class in the first place, he was a terrible influence anyway.

They both admitted that they only took this class because it had easy credits, and both of them had enough work to worry about as it was. But she had never been this distracted before in any class, even this one.

Admittedly, Thursdays became Haruko's favorite days – Oikawa was a blast to be around. Every week they would have completely pointless conversations about how "sleeping is just a free trial of being dead every night" or lighter ones, like how "the best thing about takeaway is having leftover breakfast" or that damn, never-ending "is a hotdog a sandwich" discussion. He would complain that Iwa would barely ever humour him about "serious matters like this".

At this point in the year Haruko was pretty close to the whole team, but her friendship with Oikawa was on a whole different level.

They both got so comfortable around each other you would think they've known each other for years. Haruko let herself be more snarky around Oikawa, sarcasm being a good counter-measure for his flirty personality. And Oikawa let himself be… well, himself. He knew his advances or intimacy (the amount of selfies they were taking together was ridiculous) won't put her off or make things weird, and at the same time he knew she'll take him seriously in any other situation.

Oikawa considered her fairly shy at first, but once he got to know her, he found out that it's not the case at all. She was simply one of those people who didn't let just anyone waltz into her life.

One Thursday, after taking stupid selfies with his glasses and making an atrocious impression of him ("look at me, I'm captain-chan and I love volleyball so much I'm gonna marry it") Haruko asked:

"Say, how come you're the captain anyway, being a first year and all?"

"Ah," Oikawa began, putting his glasses back on, "The previous captain was a third year and the guys hadn't decided on a new one when this year began. Iwa-chan put in a good word for me, and apparently the coach vouched for me too since he remembered some of my high-school plays." he explained.

"Now that you mention it," Haruko said, "I remember hearing your name a few times back in high school. Somehow I didn't pinpoint you're the same person at first."

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrow, smirking at her. "And what'd you hear about me?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, it wasn't all positive." she chuckled at his disappointed face. "To be perfectly fair though, I barely remember what it was. Something about you being a good player, but mostly about you being full of yourself. Gotta admit it wasn't far off." Haruko teased.

"Rude, Ike-chan."

"Honestly, sometimes I doubt you even remember my full name."

"I do, but Ikeda-chan doesn't sound as nice."

He was right. It didn't. But she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of being right.

"I'm surprised we haven't run into each other before, if there was talk about me we definitely played your school." he continued.

"Oh, I didn't go to matches. Never really had any interest in volleyball. I was… too preoccupied with other things back then."

Oikawa felt like he hit a nerve, even if Haruko made it sound like she was just too busy studying. She obviously didn't want to talk about it, but his curiosity got the best of him.

"What school were you in, anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, Karasuno."

Oikawa was glad he wasn't drinking anything at that moment, or it would have went straight out.

"Um?" Haruko stared at him, questioning his obvious shock and wide eyes.

"I- Sorry! That was a little unexpected…"

"Okay? Why? You're being weird."

"Urgh," he made the most unsatisfied face a human being could make, "We had a… bad encounter with them."

That made Haruko wonder. "Don't tell me you're from Seijoh?"

He raised a brow, "…yeah?"

"Oh, damn, that makes sense then. You got your ass handed to you, didn't you? The whole school was talking about that."

Oikawa shot her a "can you not?" glare.

"Sorry, sorry!" she held her hands up in defense, "I'll admit that came out a bit harsh."

"Yeah, it did."

He seemed seriously annoyed.

"Um... If you don't mind me asking… What happened?" she asked in a much more serious tone - this was definitely something personal.

Oikawa sighed. He didn't exactly want to talk about it, but then again, he pushed her into talking about high school, which she obviously didn't want to talk about either.

He hesitated for a second, realizing that it's not in his nature to be fair. Not outside of volleyball games, at least. So why..?

He shook his head, "We lost a really important match against them. Probably the most important one we've had in high school. It wasn't an ugly loss or anything, everyone gave it their all and neither team was backing down point-wise. But in the end we lost, and the ball bounced off of _my_ hands when it flew out of the court."

He sunk in his chair a bit and crossed his arms.

"For a really long time I kept telling myself I could have saved it. I imagine that's what most players do when it's their mistake that finishes the game. I know every point we score or lose belongs to the whole team, no single person is responsible, but… You can't just shake off that feeling of guilt like it's nothing."

Oikawa leaned his head back, his eyes focused on the lecture, but his mind completely elsewhere.

"It was our last official match. I was in my third year, so was Iwa-chan and a few others. In all our three years we didn't manage to go to nationals. Every time we would be brought down by Shiratorizawa, but this time we managed to get beaten by the underdog. No offense."

You didn't need to have interest in volleyball to know how good Shiratorizawa's team was. Haruko remembered her school celebrating their victory against them.

"We've beaten Karasuno before, so no one really expected us to lose, either. But when we played them again, they were a completely different team. It was scary how fast they were improving. I ended up going to their match with Shiratorizawa the next day – I wasn't exactly happy that they won, screw those guys, but… it did make me feel better. Somehow."

The two sat in silence for a little while.

"Sorry…" Haruko said, "Both about what happened and what I said, I didn't know it was so important."

Oikawa looked at her with the most innocent expression he could pull.

"Volleyball? _Important_? To _me_? Where could you have _possibly_ gotten that idea?"

Haruko was taken aback by his sarcasm and snorted. _Unbelievable… From zero to hero in moments._

"Fair point, captain-chan. I'm guessing you're banking your future on it?"

"Yeah." he said, turning back to the lecture which was coming to an end. "And if that doesn't work out at least I'll have a degree." he shrugged.

Oikawa seemed like he had his entire life figured out. It was admirable.

* * *

The volleyball club had claimed one of the cubicle lobby sofas and coffee tables as their own. Because there were quite a few people in the club, someone would almost always be there. Feeling lonely? Go to the volley-sofa.

That's exactly where Oikawa and Haruko headed after class. They had about an hour before practice, and while Oikawa would normally just go there early, he couldn't say no to free coffee, courtesy of Iwaizumi. Though, the entire team knew it was just his way of making Oikawa stop pushing himself. He was easy to bribe.

There weren't many people at their volley-sofa today, just Iwa and… Di.. Da.. Daiki!

 _It's been months, Haruko, get your shit together._

They greeted the other two team members and plopped down. Oikawa was sitting like a normal person but Haruko was someone who liked to get comfortable, so she leaned back at one end of the cubicle sofa and threw her legs over Oikawa's lap.

A month ago, that would have been weird. Not anymore, though. And the best part was that it didn't look weird to anyone.

At first, Haruko expected there to be gossip about them, the manager and the captain, getting too friendly. But apparently the baking club was the heart of all the university's gossip – thanks to them, Haruko was known as simply "one of the guys".

She had to admit, it bothered her in a way. She knew damn well she was attractive, and being seen as a threat would have been flattering. Still, this was still the best outcome she could have ever hoped for.

Haruko started digging in her bag for her console to pass the time, as Daiki was working on his assignment, while Oikawa and Iwaizumi were talking about some volleyball stuff. Her digging became more frantic as time went by – sure, her bag was a mess, but she began to worry.

"Yo, you okay?" Iwa asked.

"Ghh… My PSP is missing…" she said, gritting her teeth, continuing to panic and search her bag.

"Just dump it all out on the sofa." Oikawa suggested. It wasn't a bad idea.

She flipped her bag upside down, a million of things falling out on her lap, going from textbooks to makeup. Out came her console, too.

"Oh thank god, I almost had a heart attack…" she exhaled.

"Damn, it's like a Bag of Holding." Daiki teased, looking at her pile of stuff, getting Haruko to roll her eyes at the Dungeons and Dragons reference. _How is this nerd a regular on the team?_

Haruko put her PSP on the table and started shoving everything back into her bag. Once she was done, she could finally reward herself with some video games.

* * *

That is, for 20 minutes, tops.

Haruko stopped her game to check her phone that had just buzzed.

"Ugh you've got to be joking." she took her legs off Oikawa's lap and sat down normally, "Can you guys tell coach Mukai I can't make it today? One of my coworkers decided to go on an impromptu holiday. My manager is asking me to cover…"

"Aw whaaat."

She stood up, putting her console back into her bag (never to be seen again) and squeezed out of their little booth. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's gonna be fired. Our manager's super lenient but the moment you take advantage of that she does _not_ think twice."

They waved their goodbyes and Haruko was off.

After a while the boys got up too to head to practice.

Oikawa had a habit of looking back to see if he had left anything behind. Usually there wouldn't be anything there, but today… there was. And it wasn't an item that belonged to him.

 _Oh?_

* * *

Thankfully Haruko's shift was an easy one – not a lot of people drink on a Thursday evening, and it wasn't even a closing shift. It was dead all evening, Haruko counted a total of 5 drinks she made over the span of 6 hours. She got so used to weekend shifts, she had forgotten how relaxing her job can be.

Still having some energy left after work, Haruko sat down at her desk and started browsing on social media.

It gave her a good reminder why she doesn't spend much time on there apart from Instagram.

It's full of old friends. Old classmates.

 _Blergh._

She closed her laptop and looked up at the fairy lights hanging above her.

New friends. New… colleagues.

Haruko turned back to her desk. A few months had passed since her last diary entry. She was great at keeping a diary back in middle school, but that changed as the years went by. It was time for an update.

 _Especially after that last entry… yeesh._

Haruko made a disgusted face at herself. Sure, things worked out, but she still had a gross feeling in her gut for even thinking about being horrible to the people she can now proudly call her friends.

She was getting sleepy, but started looking around her desk, diary nowhere to be found. She then looked through her bag, thinking that maybe she took it to university, but it wasn't there either. She gave one last check around her bed and swiftly gave up, her bed inviting her.

 _Eh, I'll do it tomorrow._

She flopped on her bed. Haruko didn't worry in the slightest about where her diary could have went.

She probably should have been worried.

Actually, she _definitely_ should have been worried.

* * *

 **AN:** *mario voice* here we GO-


	6. Chapter 6

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 6**

It was raining again.

"Hey, what do you guys think about Ike-chan?"

"Is this another one of your existential discussions again about where we all belong in the universe, or is it a genuine question?"

"I think she's nice. She's been helping out a lot. Why?"

"Yeah she's great, we wouldn't have made it to practice matches without her."

"And she's super easy to talk to, she's really chill altogether. Been an MVP manager-wise too."

"Why?"

"Yeah, why, did something happen?"

"… Nah. It was more of an existential question anyway."

"Oh we are _so_ not doing that discussion again."

"Yeah no way dude."

* * *

Haruko yawned and slumped into her seat. These Friday afternoon-only classes were really messing with her sleep schedule. It was always an excuse to stay up late playing video games.

She was in class a little earlier than expected, usually she would meet Oikawa somewhere on the way but he was nowhere to be found. She wondered if he had skipped class today.

"Ya-hoo, Ike-chan!"

 _Think of the devil._

She turned to Oikawa who was walking up the stairs towards her. Haruko loved that grey NASA hoodie he had, it looked good on him, as nerdy as it was. He had his hand up waving to her, so she gave him a smile and small wave as well, eyes trailing towards what he had in the hand he was waving with.

She froze mid-wave, eyes wide.

A navy notebook with a pen strapped to it. Her diary.

 _Oh HELL no._

Of _course_ everything had to go to shit.

 _No way. No WAY is this happening. Nothing in there even applies anymore! No no no no and it's the ONLY fucking entry in there! Uuurgh maybe I can explain? Maybe he didn't read it? Of course he read it, he's Oikawa fucking Tooru. Oh god, oh jeez, oh wow, now is about the time I'd like to descend into hell, or some different dimension, any dimension but this one, oh god I probably left it on the sofa yesterday when I emptied my bag, why did I even bring that thing to university? What is WRONG with me? This is-… wait... why is he acting normal?_

Haruko continued staring at her diary and swearing in her mind until Oikawa sat down next to her and handed the diary to her. "You left this behind yesterday."

Haruko looked down at it and slowly took it from his hand, trying her best not to shake while she does so, then looked back at him and raised her eyebrow.

"Jeez, Ike-chan, don't give me that look. I didn't read it."

She squinted.

"Alright, alright, I'll admit I tried. But for some ungodly reason you had to write everything in English. My English is so bad the only thing I understood was the word 'volleyball' and then I gave up. Honestly, it's hard enough to find things to tease you about, I was hoping for this to be a gold mine, but you've saved yourself." he chuckled.

Haruko closed her eyes is disbelief and she finally exhaled after holding her breath for the past 30 seconds.

 _Are you fucking kidding me._

"When…" Haruko started, putting her diary away, still shaken up, "When I was in middle school, my English was really bad too, so my teacher told me to try keeping a diary in English and it really helped. I developed a habit to start a new one every school year since then." she explained.

 _I'd thank her for it, if me having a diary in the first place wouldn't be her fault._

"Smart." Oikawa commented, taking out his notes.

Still, Haruko worried. No matter how bad his English was, he must have noticed his name somewhere, right? And the fact that he wasn't questioning anything in there AT ALL was getting to her. He could have easily translated it online as well, sure it was an extra step, but the Oikawa she knows had no respect for people's privacy, at least when it came to a chance to find out someone's secrets. He was a good friend, but he was also a nosy little shit. So why not now?

The worst part was that he was so incredibly hard to read. Especially when he's focusing on studying.

 _Right, class. Focus._

Haruko took out her tablet and started taking notes on the lecture that had just started a moment ago. It was difficult, to say the least, to focus on the lecture after what had just happened. This whole event nearly gave her a heart attack. Haruko decided to slam-dunk her diary into a garbage bin later. Her English was top-notch at this point, there was no reason to keep it anymore, it was just a habit. A habit that almost screwed her over just now.

 _Ugh, FOCUS._

She groaned quietly. They had exams coming up and she had no right to slack off or have her mind pre-occupied like this. Not in this class, at least.

Oikawa glanced over to her, hearing her grumbling. It was obvious that Haruko was having trouble keeping up with the lecture, frantically scribbling notes down with her tablet pen, constantly crossing things out, and spacing out every so often.

 _That really did a number on you, huh?_ Oikawa thought, looking back at his notes. _I wonder… Is there anything else about you that's fake? And just how much can you handle before you give up this whole ordeal?_

* * *

"You gotta join us for drinks this time, come on Ikeda-san!" Maki whined.

Another Friday, another disappointment.

"Don't tease her Maki, you know Ike-chan has work on Fridays." Oikawa said as the group was walking out of the campus after practice.

She couldn't help but notice that his tone was a bit dry. Not only that, he would usually be the one trying to convince her to swap shifts with someone. Haruko tried to convince herself it was exam stress. Or volleyball stress. Or any stress that had nothing to do with her.

"Yeah… I'll see you guys on Monday. Have a good weekend!" she said, waving goodbye and heading home without looking back. The rain had stopped, but it was still cold.

This day was too much.

* * *

Friday nights were hell at work, so when Haruko came home it felt heavenly to drop on her bed. She lazily took out her phone from her bag to check up on any notifications – the bar was too busy for her to be able to be on her phone, and she did have a habit of keeping her phone safely in her bag as she walked home at night.

 _Oh jeez okay..?_

She tapped on the messenger notification. 278 new messages.

* * *

 _Maki has added Ikeda to the conversation._

Maki: yooo

Daiki: yooooooooooo

Maki: Ikeda-san are you there

Maki: are you theeeeeeeere

Iwaizumi: shes at work you idiot

Maki: i'm boooooored tell Oiks to reconsider

Maki: Oiksssssss

Oikawa: no and wow don't call me that

 _Maki had changed Oikawa's nickname to Oiks_

Oiks: Maki I swear 2 god

Daiki: no for real why you gotta leave us hanging like this

Oiks: I'm not feeling it today, go drink somewhere else

Daiki: youre having one of your moods again arent you

Daiki: Iwa is he having one of his moods

Iwaizumi: fuck if I know

Maki: you knowww no one else has the space to accommodate more than two (2) people except u

Oiks: so that gives you the right

Oiks: to invade the privacy of my home

Oiks: every goddamn Friday

Oiks: ? ? ? ?

Iwaizumi: will you ever learn to stop double-texting

Oiks: screw double texting

Oiks: I'll quadruple text u

Oiks: buzz buzz

Oiks: its me again

Iwaizumi: Maki make me an admin

 _Maki has promoted Iwaizumi to Admin._

 _Iwaizumi had changed Oiks's nickname to Shittykawa._

Shittykawa: Maki make me an admin

Maki: hell no lol

Shittykawa: wtf you made Iwa-chan an admin ? ?

Shittykawa: with no questions asked

Maki: yeah cause its Iwa

* * *

Haruko chuckled at their usual bickering and skimmed through the messages and cat pictures Daiki kept uploading to a more important part of the group chat.

* * *

Shittykawa: is anyone free tmrw morning?

Maki: why?

Shittykawa: new uniforms are coming in and someone has to be at uni to pick them up

Maki: why cant you do it ya freeloader, I have work

Daiki: yeah so do I

Iwaizumi: +1

Shittykawa: I made plans already

Shittykawa: wheres everyone else? theres like 14 people in the chat

Iwaizumi: its 3am what the hell do you think they could be doing

Shittykawa: fair

Shittykawa: well someones gotta be at uni in 4 hours to pick up the delivery and it aint gonna be me

* * *

Haruko sighed. These were the newest messages and the guys were obviously still online. She lived nearby, so might as well go do it. Even if that meant getting less than 4 hours of sleep, she could always just take a nap when she came back.

* * *

Ikeda: heyyy I can go pick it up

Maki: AYYYY

Daiki: AYYYYYYY youre back!

Shittykawa: hell yes thanks

Maki: hey no didn't you JUST come back from work?

Maki: you gotta take a break woman

Shittykawa: dont underestimate manager-chan

Shittykawa: shes unstoppable

* * *

Haruko smiled proudly at the comment. Maybe she had nothing to worry about after all.

* * *

Ikeda: damn right

 _Maki has changed Ikeda's nickname to MVP._

MVP: ahaha thanks

Shittykawa: k so the delivery person should be at the campus gates at about 7am

Shittykawa: b there or b square

MVP: gotcha!

* * *

Haruko closed the chat and muted her phone – it was time to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before she drags herself to university on a Saturday.

* * *

 **AN:** short chapter again but I really felt like doing an update today haha. Two updates in two days, I'm on fire! I'm like, so ready to move forward with my main ideas for this story, I can't believe how long it's taking me to throw them at each other aaaargh.

For the reviewers/commenters/people leaving kudos on AO3: I see each and every one of you and thank you ahh! Lov u guys.

Also, in case this caused confusion: Maki isn't Hanamaki. It's just a random dude I named Maki. Everyone except for Iwa and Oiks are just random people who happen to go to this uni, they're the only canon characters here. _For now_ lmao. And yeah there's a ton of other people on the team but honestly who has time, you probably JUST got used to the filler boys Maki and Daiki, no way am I introducing more than that. Imagine them as the social butterflies of the team.

Last but not least: while I do have an image of Haruko in my head, I'd prefer to leave her as a blank slate for you guys to imagine whatever you like. Honestly, even if you change her name and take this as a reader-insert fic instead, I really won't judge. You do you!


	7. Chapter 7

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 7**

Haruko yawned.

It was way too early to exist.

With just a few hours of sleep she found it difficult to keep her eyes open, but coffee in one hand and gym keys in the other, she stood next to the campus gates waiting for the delivery guy. It didn't help that the weekend staff was a pain in the ass to deal with when it came to getting gym keys – which she anticipated and showed up a half an hour early.

She yawned again. _7.15am. He's late._

Haruko began tapping her foot. About five minutes later, the delivery guy finally showed up.

 _Oh for fuc-_

"Haru-chan?"

Haruko tried not to cringe at the old nickname. Miyagi was too small.

"So you're doing deliveries now?" she asked.

"Well hello to you, too. You haven't changed a bit."

Haruko wanted to glare at the boy but stopped herself. _I will be calm, I will be positive._

"Neither have you, Terushima-san."

"Jeez, what happened to 'Yuu-kun'?" he asked, giving Haruko one of his trademark smirks.

"Where do you want me to sign for these?"

Terushima sighed and rolled his eyes, handing Haruko a pen to sign for the delivery. "So, you're going to Shokey then?"

"Mhm." Haruko murmured.

He took the pen and tablet back from her when she was done, picking up the boxes he had with him. "Where do you want these, then?"

"I can carry them myself, you know."

"I insist." he smiled.

Haruko sighed. There was no arguing with Terushima. She knew this all too well. "Fine. Follow me."

Instead of following Haruko, Terushima insisted on walking next to her. "So what brings you here on a Saturday morning, anyway?" he asked.

"It's our volleyball club's delivery, no one else was availab-"

"Volleyball? Since when are you into _that_?" he raised a brow at her.

"I'm... not. It just… kind of happened. I'm their manager." Haruko shrugged. He would have a field day if she went into details on why she got herself involved in the first place.

"Maaaaybe you're just subconsciously into volleyball players." he grinned.

"Get over yourself, Terushima." she scoffed, opening the door to the gym. Less than five minutes in and he's already unbearable. "That was _one_ time."

He followed Haruko into the gym and placed the boxes down. "And a fun time it was."

Haruko glared at him. He is never going to let it go, is he?

Then again, this was Terushima Yuuji. The only way to get rid of him was to ignore his advances – getting angry with him only seemed to do the exact opposite.

"Don't you have deliveries you need to… you know, deliver?" she asked, leaning on the doorframe, spinning the keys around her finger impatiently.

"I can take a break." he smirked at her again.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Get out before I lock you in."

Terushima chuckled and started walking towards the door, stopping in the middle of the doorframe and turning to Haruko. He placed his arm above her and leaned in slightly, getting _way_ too close for comfort.

"Come by Tohoku University sometime. For old time's sake." he smiled.

And with that, he disappeared from the campus as quickly as he appeared.

Haruko, though, stood where he left her for a while. Quite some time has passed since she's seen old friends. It's not like the time she spent with Terushima in the past was _bad_. If anything, it was actually fun, he wasn't wrong on that part. He was _THE_ party boy of Miyagi, hands down. But it was why she got with him in the first place that-

 _Nope._ She shook her head. _I am not going down that road again. I literally do not have the time or energy to think about that._

A part of her even felt bad for being so cold to Terushima. Not like he did anything wrong.

 _Tohoku…_ she thought _. I'm impressed he got accepted._

She locked the gym's doors leaving the boxes inside and made her way to the university's office to drop the keys off. Doing errands for the volleyball club at this hour was exhausting. And on a Saturday, too. The _one_ day she had off.

Once she was done with that, Haruko made her way out of the campus as well. Never has she been this excited about going back to sleep.

Too bad the excitement had to be ruined by a single phone call. She eyed the called ID. It was Oikawa.

"Heeeeey." she answered, half asleep. The coffee Haruko had in the morning didn't help much.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

She realized he's talking about the delivery. "Ah… Fine."

"Doesn't sound like it went fine?" he questioned.

"No, no, everything went fine, sorry. I just ran into and old friend I would rather have not run into."

"Really? Who?"

Haruko really wasn't up for being interrogated like this. Then again, maybe he was just being polite, asking how it went and all. She wasn't in a state to analyze his actions, either.

"The delivery guy. Listen, I'm really not-"

"Wait, you know Teru-chan?"

Haruko stopped, squinting at nothing. Oikawa and Terushima. Both into volleyball. Both team captains. Both from Miyagi. Moreover, Terushima was the area's delivery guy, and Oikawa took care of most club deliveries himself.

Of _course_ they knew each other. This morning was going _great_.

"Y-yeah, sort of. Did… did you need something?" The last thing Haruko wanted was for _that_ conversation to go any further.

"Oh, yeah, sorry! Since you're already out, mind doing one more thing?"

Haruko sighed. "Depends."

"Well…"

It wasn't one thing. It was like, three more things. Reluctantly, Haruko agreed – she was their manager, after all, and she knew about the extra work when she signed up for it. She figured it was because of the official volleyball games that were coming up soon – their team was considered a favorite for the Inter-University games that were happening a month from now, mostly because of the setter and ace duo Shokey was lucky to get – Oikawa and Iwaizumi.

Haruko was excited for the games, but at the same time that meant she would have even more work than usual. Not to mention they had a few exams coming up in two weeks.

"Guess I'll have to kick it into high-gear." she murmured once Oikawa was done listing all the errands their club has to catch up on.

"Yeah, sorry… But I'm sure you can handle it. I'll let you know if anything else comes up."

She sighed. There's bound to be something else, eventually. "Sure."

Once the call ended, Haruko decided to stop by a convenience store for an energy drink. She had an entire Saturday to survive on two hours of sleep. Fabulous.

 _I gotta admit his dedication is admirable, yeah… But it doesn't mean everyone else around him are going to push themselves to their limits too. Then again, I did sign up for this on my own free, albeit stupid, will._

Haruko sat down on a bench to mentally go over the list of things he asked her to do and started making a plan for the day.

 _I guess studies come first and I could just quit but…_

She stopped herself there. No. She couldn't quit. Quit on the people who have been so… family-like. She was no volleyball player, no, but she knew she was helping by getting their hands off everything that wasn't playing volleyball. And she knew how much it meant to them because, well, they've told her. They've told her how much they appreciate her help. They've told her how happy they are to have her.

To Haruko, Shokey's volleyball team was family.

So at that point, she promised herself to keep on going no matter how tough the going gets.

* * *

He had to admit, he was surprised. Anyone else would have quit by now. But she just kept going no matter what amount of work he threw at her.

Oikawa put his phone down on the coffee table next to his sofa and sat back, crossing his arms. Did he actually have plans today? No. But if their so called "I want to gain management experience" manager was available, why not give her the work he was supposed to do and take the day off?

The truth was, he understood every single word she wrote in her diary. Taking a peek just to find something to tease his _friend_ about was both the best and worst decision he's ever made.

On one hand, he was glad he found out before he got any more emotionally invested in her when she had ulterior motives. Very vain ulterior motives. Saved him from getting stabbed in the back too much.

The one girl who was comfortable around him and didn't humor him just to gain his approval, the one girl who he had almost put his full trust in, was apparently a manipulative bitch.

On the other hand, Oikawa wished he had some self-control and actually skipped on reading her diary. The other truth was that she actually _was_ helpful. This whole ordeal was too far in for him to put an end to it – the guys loved both her personality and assistance, the coach and adviser were delighted they had a load of work taken off their shoulders, and even Oikawa himself had to admit she was willing to go far before she breaks, _if_ she breaks. He knew the damage he would do if he called her out. He knew what the damage of losing her from the team was.

And it was annoying as hell.

For Oikawa, being trapped like this was the worst feeling. The _worst_. So he did what he could to make himself feel better. Maybe the guys were nice to her but it didn't mean he has to be. He just had to tolerate her.

However, he was also petty. Very, very petty. Oikawa was the embodiment of pettiness.

Giving Haruko an extra load of work could always be written off as 'manager duties' and his _friendship_ with her gave him a 'get out of jail free' card when it came to teasing and tormenting her. And that's exactly why he got her to agree to take in the delivery today.

Terushima.

Dealing with the man in charge of their deliveries was a pain. Terushima hit on _everyone_ he found even remotely attractive, including Oikawa, and all he wanted was for him to torment their precious manager-chan for a little while. Oikawa knew how persistent Terushima was. When he called Haruko he expected them to still be in the middle of the "do you have a phone number to go with that pretty face" bullshit.

What he didn't expect was for them to know each other.

"Go figure…"

Oikawa sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"And she has the audacity to call _me_ a playboy. Tch."

Terushima didn't exactly have a good reputation. Anyone who crossed paths with him, even briefly, would say that. He was Miyagi's party boy.

Oikawa couldn't help but wonder just how well Haruko knew the party boy.

Or… why he even cares about that.

He shook his head and went to get some snacks from the kitchen. He had an entire day ahead of him to binge-watch his favorite TV shows.

* * *

 **AN:** I was going to update last week but then university slam-dunked me into a garbage can. I really wasn't ready to go back oh god.

So, thing is, I wasn't going to put Terushima in at all, just briefly mention him later in a _(very emotional)_ later chapter. But I have a few ideas and I'm conflicted. I don't want to over-saturate chapters with him because we're all here for Oiks, so it's up to you guys to let me know if you want to see more or less of him later on! Let me know!

Last but not least, thank you all again for the fanfiction net reviews/favs/follows and ao3 comments and kudos! Ily guys! :')


	8. Chapter 8

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 8**

A week later Haruko was on her last legs.

Monday. Half asleep she threw her leg over her bike and made her way to university. In a way, it made her happy that she didn't have morning class with any close friends: Haruko was beyond tired and had no wish to talk to anyone, especially Oikawa who was bound to have more work for her.

Sure, the Inter-University games were next month, in about 5 weeks. But things were getting out of hand.

The two energy drinks she had in the bag kept rattling in her bag – Haruko hoped she won't have to deal with a spray fountain once she opens them later on.

The amount of work Oikawa was dropping on her shoulders was ridiculous. Errands this, help us with that, can you grab this, we need you to do that… The volleyball tournament had the worst timing, too – she had exams tomorrow so the entire previous week was filled with not only classes, volleyball work and actual work, but with intense studying as well.

Once Haruko arrived at university she chained her bike to the nearby bike rack and went in. Yawning, she made her way straight to class, hoping she won't run into any friends. It was too early to chat to anyone. Or, you know, function in general.

She plopped down at her desk and carefully opened one of the energy drinks she brought with her – thankfully it wasn't too shaken up so she didn't have to deal with a sticky energy drink shower in her face. Class soon began and she sighed in relief – somehow, studying was the easiest thing to deal with lately.

* * *

"How many has it been today?"

She looked up at Iwaizumi who was approaching their usual cubicle sofa booth, opening a soda can. In the past few months the volley-boys and her had developed a habit to have lunch there – though teammates showed up at random, most of the time there was someone there to have lunch with.

Haruko was sitting alone at that time, waiting for her instant noodles to cool off, sipping on her drink, eyes focused on her phone.

"Just two, including this one." she said giving her can a little shake. Would have been more if she hadn't run out of them. She made a mental note to take a trip to the grocery store later to stock up.

Iwaizumi shook his head sitting down across her. "Ikeda-san."

She glanced up at him, "What?"

But to her dismay, her face was met with a genuine frown. A rare sight on Iwa's face, which made her uneasy. "You know, no matter how much makeup you use, I can still see the dark circles under your eyes." he scolded. "You gotta take a break."

Haruko sighed, closing her eyes. "I'll be fine. There's a lot of work to do lately and I need to-"

"What you need to do is stop sounding like Oikawa." he interrupted.

"Eh?" she blinked at him a few times.

"I already have one person to babysit; I can't prevent both of you overworking yourselves. You _need_ to take a break." Iwaizumi insisted.

Before Haruko could protest, a familiar sing-song voice came towards the both of them. "I heard my naaaame."

Oikawa had just turned a corner and leaned on the sofa behind Haruko, his head above her, coffee in his hand. "Speak of the devil…" she muttered.

Ignoring her, Oikawa spoke up again, turning to Iwaizumi, "What's up?"

He pointed at Haruko, as well as her energy drink and instant noodles. "That."

Oikawa looked at Haruko who was scooting over to give him some space on the sofa. "Aw, Iwa-chan cares about you." he teased, sitting down as well.

If Haruko was going to be fair, she kind of wished Oikawa didn't show up just now. Not only has the man been pestering about club work for the past week, he's also been ' _kind of a dick'_ , to put it in her words. His teasing and _friendly_ jabs became more… harsh lately. He was clearly upset. But, being the first person to understand what stress does to a person mentally, Haruko decided to let those things slide and have him make it up to her after the tournament.

Being the team captain came with its own responsibilities, and while it was impressive how well he was hiding the stress, she knew it was there. He had no reason to lash out at her otherwise.

"I'm serious." Iwa said, annoyed at his friend, "You can't keep living like this, you'll burn out. And trust me, that ain't a pretty sight."

"Thanks, mom." Haruko muttered, taking her instant noodle cup and chopsticks into her hands, "But I'll have you know I had an entire 4 hours of sleep last night, I'm ready to roll."

Iwaizumi placed his soda can on the table with a loud thud and looked her dead in the eye, making Oikawa snicker next to her, because he knew that look all too well. It was truly entertaining to see it used on someone else. Especially manager-chan.

Haruko, though, flinched at his face. He was intimidating as hell, so she gave up, knowing he won't leave her alone otherwise. "Alright, alright, well, what do you want me to do? We have exams tomorrow and the tournament is in a little over a month so there's a ton of work on my shoulders, what am I supposed to do, just drop it?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed, lifting his free hand a bit, "There's about a dozen of other people you can drop your work on, just because you're the manager doesn't mean you have to do _ALL_ our errands for us."

To all of their surprise, both Haruko and Oikawa spoke up at the same time.

"We need to practice."  
"You need to practice."

They turned at each other and blinked.

"Great." Iwaizumi sighed, sinking his head into his hands, "You're fucking made for each other."

Haruko and Oikawa blushed and shot their eyes back at Iwaizumi, both hoping that the other party didn't see their pink cheeks.

They both totally did.

Iwaizumi lifted his head back up, seeing the two idiots glaring at him. "We don't practice 24/7 you know."

He sat back, crossing his arms. "For example, yesterday was Sunday. What the hell were you doing that made you end up with just 4 hours of sleep?"

Seriously, what was this, an intervention?

"Well I only came back from work at about midnight, so I started late. But I was doing the paperwork for our next practice game trip. It took a little longer than I thought, they made some mistakes and-"

"Wait, hold on, that was _YOUR_ job!" Iwaizumi growled, glaring at Oikawa.

Oikawa choked on his coffee a bit, "Gah, don't startle me like that!"

He looked up at Iwaizumi who was still glaring at him, waiting for an explanation. "Um-"

He wasn't ready for this. He didn't have an excuse. He didn't-…

"Listen, if Oikawa needs to give me some of the work he was supposed to do, that's fine. I'm not the one who has exhausting practice the next day, I'll live."

The two boys gave Haruko a surprised look, Oikawa more than Iwaizumi. But she was sitting there completely unfazed, focused eating her noodles. She took another slurp and looked up to see the two boys staring at her.

"…What?"

Before Oikawa could open his mouth, Iwaizumi beat him to it. "This is exactly what I meant!"

He then turned back to Oikawa. "And _you_! I swear, if you dropped your paperwork just to squeeze in more practice I'm going to kick your ass." he growled, "Last thing we need is you fucking up your knee again, _especially_ right before the Interuni games!"

Haruko smirked at the boy next to her. Just as she thought his scolding was fully on Oikawa, who was sinking more and more into his seat as the scolding went on, Iwaizumi turned back to her again, "Don't think I forgot that you're here, I'm not done with you."

She flinched as he stood up and rose his index finger at her.

"If I see you overworking yourself at any time from this point onwards, I will personally make sure the coach suspends you from the club until you get your shit together. Got it?"

Haruko gulped and slowly nodded. "Good. I'll see you in class."

Iwaizumi left, throwing his empty can into a nearby garbage can, Oikawa's and Haruko's eyes on him as he walked away.

"Wow." she finally spoke. "So this is what it's like to be you."

Oikawa came back to his senses and returned to his coffee. "Yeah…"

"He's such a dad."

* * *

Haruko didn't say anything. She didn't complain about all the work, she didn't complain about the scolding, she didn't even acknowledge Oikawa blatantly dropping his work on her, instead she insisted she doesn't mind.

And that bugged the hell out of him.

Oikawa was sitting a few rows behind her in the lecture theatre, next to the still grumpy Iwaizumi. The lecture went on, but he couldn't focus on it at all, even though he knew he had exams the following day and revision was vital.

But all he could do is stare at Haruko's back, as if trying to figure her out.

That had to be her diary, right? If it wasn't, she wouldn't have reacted the way she did.

Oikawa spent so much time figuring out how to let her down when she makes a move. Let her down in a way that would make her stay on the team. A way that wouldn't end up reaching the team's ears as well.

So why, after all this time, after all this work, she hasn't made a single move on him? That was what she was after, right? If anything, she was avoiding him for the past few days!

Most importantly, though, why was this getting to him so much? She was just a girl with vain motives who could be used to benefit the team. That's all she was.

Sure, she was fun to hang out with whenever he could ignore her motives. Sure, she was his friend. Good friend. _Was_ \- past tense. Sure, she was helpful. And hardworking. And smart.

 _And hot._

Oikawa flinched at his own thoughts, bringing himself back to reality.

Haruko turning out to be indestructible was really doing a number on him.

"Yo, you okay?"

He turned to Iwaizumi who was giving him a questioning look.

"Huh? Yeah, why?"

"You just _flinched_." Iwaizumi squinted.

"Uhm. Yeah, the air-con is a bit much, I just shivered I guess. I'm fine, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi went back to his notes, still squinting. _There IS no air conditioning in here…_

* * *

Tuesday. Exam day.

To Haruko's surprise, Oikawa didn't pester her about any extra work the previous day. She already had a whole plan on how to fit both studying and work into a single night, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by some extra sleep.

 _Maybe he got worried about me, too. Won't ever admit it though, the little shit._

* * *

Wednesday. The day after the exams.

Haruko wondered why they call them exams when they're so short and take a single day to get graded. They were tests, _tests_! The university was just trying to sound fancy and intimidating. Sure, they were worth a third of her final grades in each class she was taking, but what exam takes an _evening_ to be graded?

Well, these were. She passed both of the exams she took, one with flying colors, one with… just colors. Good enough!

The girl was making her way towards the women's changing room to change into her tracksuit for practice, but was stopped by one of the university's staff members.

"Excuse me, miss? Are you from the volleyball club?"

She recognized him as one of the tutors. He seemed a little stressed and in a rush.

"I am, how can I help?"

"Oh great! I thought I remembered seeing you around a few of my students – Oikawa-san forgot his exam results on his desk and ran off to practice as always, would you mind passing them over to him?" he asked, handing Haruko some papers. "I'm very sorry to drop this on you, I'm late for a meeting!"

"Oh, sure, sure! I'm heading to practice myself so it's really no big deal." she said, taking the papers and saying goodbye to the man rushing off to his meeting.

Haruko was back on her original route and glanced over the paper. The front page only had Oikawa's name and the class name on it. She stopped.

" _Advanced English."_

Okay, now she was _really_ interested. Haruko knew peeking at other people's results was rude, but he peeked in her diary, so it's only fair, right? While it was admirable he was taking a class to improve his crappy language skills, she couldn't help herself. She really wanted to tease him.

Soon enough, the need to know just how bad of a grade he got overpowered her and she flipped through the few pages to get to his grade.

Then, she swiftly closed it with both hands, raised her head and just… stood there for a while, staring into nothing.

 _That's not right._

She looked down at her hands again where Oikawa's exam still rested. She opened it again, flipping to his grade immediately, and stared at it, his words running through her head.

" _Jeez, Ike-chan, don't give me that look. I didn't read it."_

It was on the last page of his exam paper.

" _Alright, alright, I'll admit I tried. But for some ungodly reason you had to write everything in English."_

Bold, red mark on the corner of the page.

" _My English is so bad the only thing I understood was the word 'volleyball' and then I gave up."_

98 percent.

He got a _ninety-eight-fucking-percent_ on his Advanced English exam.

Which means he perfectly understood her diary entry, as well.

Then it dawned on her. All those unnecessary jabs and teases. All the work Oikawa's been dropping on her.

He's been overworking her on purpose. He's been putting her through all that bullshit because he thinks she's still on the team for his high and mighty self. And he hasn't said a thing. He's been lying this entire fucking time.

He's just been using that to his advantage.

 _THAT SON OF A-_

"Yahoo, Ike-chan!"

She stood up straight at the voice behind her, her face suddenly as calm as a pond. She turned around with the nicest expression she could manage.

"Hey!"

Oikawa was almost taken aback by her chirpy answer. "Well someone's in a good mood today. I'm guessing you passed all your exams?"

He walked up to her, his gym bag over his shoulder – he was obviously heading to practice too.

Noone else was in the hallway. Haruko could have easily kneed him in the groin if she wanted to, with no witnesses, but decided against it. For now.

"Yup. That being said, your English tutor asked me to pass this on to you. You left it behind." she said, handing him the papers.

And there it was. Haruko felt like she was looking at a mirror. Maybe her expression was a little more dramatic when she got her diary back, but it was close to his current one anyway.

"Hey, hey, don't give me that look. I didn't see your grade. Unlike _some people_ , I respect other people's privacy." she had to resist the urge to wink at him, "Besides, I find it admirable that you're taking advanced classes to improve."

"I… Uh… Thank you?" Oikawa mumbled, slowly taking his exam papers from her.

His expression made it obvious he didn't know what to believe. Oikawa being nervous was a rare sight, and oh god, was it a satisfying one.

Haruko then swiftly turned around and headed towards the changing room again.

"Well don't just stand there; we'll be late to practice."

She heard him shuffle his papers into his bag and start catching up to her. "R-right."

Haruko glanced at the nervous wreck that soon started walking next to her.

 _Two can play at this game._

* * *

 **AN:** This is my longest chapter yet! Probably because I actually had this planned ever since I began the story hehe. Can you tell by the title lmao.

I actually spent a few hours today figuring out the rest of the timeline leading up to the end and I'm happy to say I have most of it sorted!

There are some chapters I'm so excited to write, you have no idea.

It's finally time to throw them into a spiral of emotions!


	9. Chapter 9

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 9**

Being unable to read someone was the worst.

Oikawa felt like he's going to blow a fuse trying to figure out just how much she knows. Their team had 4v4 matches with each other today and he had Iwaizumi tell him to, quote, "get his head out of the clouds, dumbass" more than once. Clearing his mind when the stability of his team was on the line was difficult.

Why, out of all the people, did _she_ have to be such a strong link in their team? If she leaves, and more importantly, if the team finds out the details of this… _situation_ , they'll be shattered. They will feel cheated, they will lose trust in other teammates, there was just no way Oikawa could do that to them.

But would Ike-chan?

For a minute he thought that, maybe, if she hasn't said anything, she actually didn't see his exam results and doesn't know he understood her diary entry. But he soon realized that he's just trying to comfort himself with that thought – not like he properly confronted her about the diary either.

Not knowing what to believe was driving him crazy.

"Shittykawa, for the last god damn time!"

He snapped out of it at Iwaizumi's words. "Sorry, sorry!"

One of them knew more than the other, and Oikawa was really, _really_ hoping it was him. He was willing to make sacrifices for his team and had no idea if she would do the same if he confronted her.

In a way, he was getting angry with himself that his negative emotions about Haruko were subsiding. He kept trying to repeat to himself that she was selfish, she was vain, she was judgmental, she was manipulative. But the fact that no actual harm had been done (yet?) was getting on his nerves.

It was strange, to want harm to have been done. Was he being selfish for wanting that, just to validate his anger with her?

Worst of all, at the end of the day, she did more good than harm. In a perfect world that sentence would start with a "best of all", but not in their case. The amount of determination Haruko had to help the team was impressive, and her hard work has been making it difficult to be angry with her.

Oikawa was bitter anyway, though.

For a moment, her dedication and diligence reminded Oikawa of himself.

 _Ugh. No. We're nothing alike._

He was once again woken up from his internal monologue, but this time by a whistle. He looked at Iwaizumi who was making a time out sign with his hands, glaring at him.

Great.

* * *

Haruko had to keep her lips from curling up as she felt the pissed off aura radiate from Oikawa a few meters away from her.

He got benched for the rest of the day.

She knew just how badly he hated being on the bench while the rest of his team was making good progress – you didn't have to be his friend or even acquaintance to know that. She was sure Oikawa would end up practicing on his own once everyone went home.

Haruko knew exactly why he was completely out of it and it was oh so satisfying.

 _Serves you right, you asshole._

In truth, she didn't really know how to approach their current situation. Once the initial frustration with him passed, she began to think just how badly blown up this whole thing is. It was just a misunderstanding, and honestly, if he would have confronted her at the very beginning, she was sure she could have explained everything, and none of this awkwardness would have happened. Or less of it, at least. He would have probably just ended up teasing her for thinking he's attractive, that's it.

But no, the little shit had to take advantage of it instead. At least that's what she thought he was doing, anyway.

Of course, that got on her nerves. She felt used, probably just as much as he did at first though, which, she reasoned, was fair?

 _I guess? Ugh._

But Haruko was petty and wanted to drag Oikawa through a revenge quest before finally sorting things out with him.

After all, their team depended on the both of them, the captain and the manager, last thing they need right now is to see them at each other's throats. Haruko cared deeply for her team and wondered if Oikawa is refusing to confront her because he does, too. That was a viable theory, but she had no way of finding that out unless she confronted him, and that was out of the question for a while. He didn't deserve to get off the hook that easily.

For a moment, his hard work, compassion and attentiveness towards the team reminded Haruko of herself.

But he was still an asshole with a shitty personality, so screw him. _Right?_

From an outsider perspective, though, they were just two idiots with the same ideals and goals who didn't manage to interact with each other like normal human beings.

* * *

While Haruko was scribbling things down on her tablet during practice, she caught Oikawa glancing at her in her peripheral vision. Several times. He was sitting on the bench just a few meters away, arms crossed, pretending he's totally focused on the match his teammates were playing. Usually he was pretty good at pretending – Haruko experienced this first hand – but today he was a complete mess.

Haruko knew exactly why he was like this, of course, but she decided to indulge in an entertaining chat with him. Besides, a part of her wanted to give him a chance to confess his wrongdoings.

She let out a loud sigh and turned to Oikawa. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

That, of course, caught him off guard. She saw him sink in his seat more, leaning back at the gym wall. He didn't say anything. So she decided to poke him a little more.

"Seriously, what's up?"

Haruko being so casual was getting to him even more. Was she actually being casual? Was it an act? Was it-

"Oikawa?"

He really, really needed to get his shit together and stop spacing out. "I… Sorry. I was just wondering how you're, um, doing?"

 _No, that's not what you're wondering at all._

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Dunno. You seem stressed." he answered quietly, avoiding looking at her.

" _I_ seem stressed?" she raised an eyebrow at him before returning to her notes. "I'm not the one who got benched because I couldn't focus. _Clearly_ something is bothering you."

Haruko could swear she heard the man grit his teeth. This was too good to pass up. So she pushed on.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about, I'm fine."

Oikawa's tone was reaching angry regions, so she decided to turn this around on him.

"You know, just because something is bothering you, doesn't mean you have to lash out at me. I didn't do anything."

For a split second, he could have sworn he saw her hold a smirk in. Just what is she getting at?

"Maybe you did." he spat, sinking into his seat even more than before. Haruko was happy that the coach, as well as the rest of the team, was too far to hear any of this. This wasn't friendly banter anymore.

"If you're so _unhappy_ with what I'm doing, maybe you should do things _yourself_ for a change."

He finally turned to Haruko throwing her a very, _very_ unsatisfied glare, only to be met by her own stern face. She wasn't backing down and continued.

"Not to be a _selfish bitch_ , but I've been working my ass off lately, and all you've been doing is giving me more work without even mentioning a single thank you. Don't you give me this shit now. I may be patient, but I have limits too. You've been annoying as hell lately, and bitter too, like, I get it, you're stressed – we _all_ are. But lash out at me _again_ and I swear to god, Oikawa, I'll-… Ugh…"

She trailed off while shaking her head and went back to her notes, not expecting him to follow up on the threat. But he did.

"Or you'll what? Quit?"

"What?!" she snapped back at him in disbelief, "Okay, just cause I'm upset with you doesn't mean I'd quit on everyone else – just how self-centered _are_ you?"

Oikawa's words got stuck in his own throat.

There was no way she was actually doing it for the team, right? It was for him, right? He totally didn't put her through hell for nothing, right?

"S-sorry." he muttered, making both himself and Haruko surprised.

 _Did… did he just apologize?_

 _Did I just apologize?!_

"Ah…" Haruko scratched the back of her head. "It's… it's fine, you're stressed. It's fine."

She went back to her notes once more, hoping this awkward conversation won't continue. There she was trying to get the better of him and he spits an apology out, albeit a half-assed apology, but still.

* * *

Practice ended. Then the day. And then, finally, the week.

Haruko was at work on her usual Sunday shift – not a lot of people drank on Sundays, usually it was either the jobless or the students.

Being pre-occupied with work meant she could take her mind off the whole Oikawa-situation. He was on her mind way too often these days.

"Ikeda-chan, can you grab these from the back?"

Haruko's manager, Kamiya Yumi, or Kami-chan to her, handed her some receipt paper with a stock list scribbled on it. She nodded and swiftly made her way to the back room, hoping to get everything before the next wave of customers.

Kami-chan was a goddess of a manager. Haruko had part-time jobs before, but none of them came close to the bar she worked in now. Her manager was understanding and fair, but at the same time, she gave off a very intimidating vibe. She was an ideal leader, both being there for her employees, but never letting them take advantage of her good nature. She was a few years older than Haruko, giving the girl hope that she, too, will be this cool someday.

Haruko had barely worked there for six months and they became total best friends. Well, at work anyway. Hanging out with your manager after work hours would be weird.

Soon she came back with the drinks and other supplies, refilled the fridges and went back to serving customers.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The same small bar, the same sticky bar counter Haruko tried her best to keep clean, the same leather sofa, armchairs and a little coffee-like table in the corner – her favorite place to be when she wasn't working. It was so odd for a bar to have such a cozy corner, but no matter how many spilled drinks that sofa had absorbed by now, it was still her favorite spot in the whole bar. She would hang out there with her coworkers after hours sometimes.

The same old tiny stage, too. The same old posters of crappy, edgy bands who had upcoming gigs at their bar.

The same old faces she would serve drinks to nearly every Sunday.

All the same old faces.

Except _one_.

A sharp ring of shattering glass filled her manager's ears, as well as one of her coworker's who was just coming back from her break. The customers themselves were too drunk or too busy to notice.

They both looked up at Haruko, who had just dropped a glass she was wiping on the floor. She stood there, eyes wide, staring at someone in the crowd.

"Ikeda-chan?" she came over to her friend, trying to snap her out of it, "Are you okay? Hey?"

Haruko, even though not fully back to her senses, did her best to try and process who she just saw, and what happened. She looked at the glass below her and then at her manager, but words were getting stuck in her throat.

"I… I'm so-rry I-…"

Kamiya shot up straight when she heard her voice break. Haruko was shaking. Kamiya grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her to the break room, asking their other, very confused coworker to cover for them.

The moment she shut the break room door behind them, Haruko sat down in one of the chairs there and sunk her head into her hands.

It was a terrible attempt of hiding tears.

* * *

"Ikeda-chan, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. I don't want to pry, but you're really worrying me, sweetie."

But no matter how much Kamiya tried, she couldn't get anything out of her distressed employee.

Another 10 minutes or so passed, and finally, with a shaky voice, Haruko spoke up.

"Kami-chan, I'm really sorry, please don't fire me, but can I go home early tonight?"

"Sweetie, no one's going to fire you!" her manager exclaimed, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders, "You're obviously going through some shit, if you need to go, you _go_."

Haruko wanted to break back into tears simply because of how thankful she was for her manager, but she held it in and nodded, getting up to collect her stuff.

"You okay to let yourself out? I'll be heading back to the bar. Call me if you need to talk, okay?"

Haruko nodded again and muttered a small 'thank you' as her manager walked out.

* * *

She stared at her apartment's ceiling, laying on the floor-mattress she called her bed. Half of her wanted to stop existing, half of her was a clustertruck of emotions. Mix those two together and you get a beautiful bundle of nothing. The beautiful feeling of "I am so done with everything".

She laid there with her phone next to her ear, listening to the dial beeps until a familiar voice picked up.

"Hoooooly shit I cannot believe you still have my number!"

Haruko rolled her eyes at nothing. Of course he was ecstatic. It was 9pm on a Sunday, she was surprised she couldn't hear any crappy club music in the background.

"Where are you?" Haruko asked.

The line was silent for a while.

"Ah, fuck." the man on the other end had a complete change of heart from his previous cheerful attitude, "I know that tone, Haru-chan. Please don't tell me she's _back_?"

Haruko didn't say anything. Or, rather, she couldn't. That was enough of an answer.

"God damnit… Miyagi is way too small."

She chuckled at his words – that's exactly what she thought when she ran into him. Hearing nothing but silence, he spoke up again.

"Can you be ready in ten minutes? I'll pick you up."

"Yeah. Thanks Teru."

"Anytime."

She gave Terushima her address, not even trying to process on how he plans to get here in ten minutes, and went to get ready, trying to preoccupy herself with fixing her makeup.

The ten minutes were up in a flash, even though they seemed like an eternity, and Haruko noticed her phone's screen flash with Terushima's caller ID on it. She dropped the call and went out, locking her apartment and taking the elevator down.

When she came out of the apartment building, she saw Terushima on the other side of the road, leaning on a motorcycle.

 _Of course he bought a motorcycle. Classic Yuuji._

Haruko could have sworn he had more piercings every time they met.

Terushima looked up at her as he noticed her walking up to him. Any other day he would compliment her appearance – leather jacket, dark red lipstick. She was a bomb.

But the last thing she needed today was him hitting on her. And he knew that well.

"So…" he began, "On a scale from 1 to 10, how reckless are you feeling tonight?"

She stopped in front of Terushima and looked up at him.

"Eleven."

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this was so OC-heavy or confusing, it will clear up soon! This isn't enough Oikawa for my taste and I'm the one writing it lmao. I promise this is an important bit leading up to a really emotional (?) chapter, one I really, really am looking forward to writing. Thank you for reading and for all the love you leave me in the reviews and comments!

We are super close to the breaking point of the story and it's gonna be full-on-Oikawa, sorry about the slow build-up!

Also the new cover image took me like 10 hours to draw and I'm so mad it's so small :') there's a bigger version at no-sorry on tumblr if ya'll interested.


	10. Chapter 10

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 10**

 _Story note: alcohol and drug mentions from here on out (nothing hard, just weed)_

* * *

Haruko slammed the 5th shot glass on the table – if it wasn't for the loud generic club music, that slam would have probably attracted attention.

At first she stuck close to Terushima since she had no idea who any of the people around them were – Teru, though, knew half of Miyagi, so even at the very first club he dragged her to they ran into some of his friends. Which wasn't really a bad thing since they got to share a booth with them when all the other ones were taken.

The further into the city center, the busier it got. Even on a Sunday tons of students were out, none of them having a slightest concern about the hangover they will have the next day. The city was alive, even at this time of night. Terushima had left his motorcycle next to his dorms, which, luckily, were nearby the city center and all the venues he had interest in.

When they arrived, he took Haruko's hands in his and made a promise.

"Today you are with me, so I promise I will make sure you leave all your worries and the real world behind, okay? It's the least I can do."

And that's exactly what he did.

Terushima wasn't known to be the party boy of Miyagi just because he went to parties a lot. He did, but the reason behind his nickname was that he always brought the party with him, and moreover, made sure everyone around him was having a good time.

She was reluctant before the first few drinks, mumbling about how this might be a bad idea, about how she has class in the morning.

But slamming his own shot glass right after Haruko, he looked at her and saw someone who was finally coming back to their old self. Especially compared to earlier today. An hour and several drinks in, she was having a blast already.

Teru reached towards her over the table and took her hand, pulling her away from the booth and towards the dancefloor.

"Come ooon!" he yelled over the loud music, feeling her resist.

"Pfff, noooo, Teru, I'm- I'm terrible at this ahah-"

Just like old times, Haruko wasn't great at handling her drinks. In this case, though, that was a good thing.

First, that meant his bar tab wouldn't suffer much – the girl didn't bring a wallet with her, not even her phone, nothing. It seemed like she wanted to disconnect from the world in every way possible. So the drinks were on him.

Second, she was easy to convince to have fun and was already mouthing the song lyrics and following him with less and less resistance into the large crowd of people and flashing lights.

And soon enough they were dancing, dancing away any worry they had in the world. She wasn't bad at it, either, Terushima knew she was just being sheepish. A lot of time may have passed, but it still felt like he saw her just yesterday. And she danced just like she used to.

Seeing her sing her heart out while dancing, he couldn't help but join in, the two nearly screaming the lyrics out on the top of their lungs.

The drinks were really kicking in.

Haruko noticed him slow down a bit and take his phone out, and before she could protest (not that she had any willpower to do that anyway) he pulled her close for a selfie, quickly swiping over to a dumb Snapchat filter.

"Teru! Don't post-"

"It's posted!" he laughed.

Logically, she knew she should be worried just how many people follow him on Snapchat, and how many of them knew her. But at this point her brain didn't manage to process that and she just laughed, continuing to dance.

Dancing with Terushima was a good reminder of how touchy-feely he was, but Haruko didn't mind. Today his attention was exclusively on her, and his hands running through her hair or on her hips were just a side-effect of that, as well as the drinks they both had.

But that was just how he was, and Haruko knew that. He was always touchy-feely with everyone, he hasn't changed a bit and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Even if it didn't mean anything, it was still nice. It was nice to just do these things with no hidden meanings, no hidden intents behind them. It was just her and Terushima having fun, and no one was there to stop them.

She had forgotten about her worries, the same way how she had forgotten how much fun he was to be around.

Haruko wrapped one of her hands around his neck, pulling him in making their foreheads touch, as they yelled the lyrics of whatever song was playing at each other, laughing and dancing in between.

Terushima knew he did well. A big smile on her face and not a care in the world was all he needed. But the night was long and the adventure didn't stop at the first club they went to.

As he was figuring out where to take her next, Haruko's jumping to the beat became a little off and soon she stopped completely, gripping onto him for dear life, waving her hand a little and saying something he couldn't quite make out, but he got the signal.

She was getting sick.

"I'm on it."

Terushima dragged her out of the stuffy crowd, immediately giving her a little more room to breathe, shoved her towards the direction of the door while he went to grab her jacket, said a quick goodbye to his friends and grabbed an empty plastic cup from their table. He glanced over to the door, catching a glimpse of Haruko successfully making it outside, and made his way to the restroom to fill up the cup with tap water.

Soon after he was standing outside the club with her as she downed the cup of water. Taking a deep breath and putting her jacket on, she looked at him and muttered a small 'holy shit thank you' – Haruko was feeling _much_ better within seconds.

"I'm honestly impressed how quickly you reacted to that…" she said.

"I do this every weekend, who do you take me for?" Teru smirked. It was true, he really knew what he was doing. "You're not getting off the hook that easily. I need to keep you going all night, I've been out with people with way worse stamina and alcohol handling than yours, surprisingly."

She rolled her eyes at the comment, throwing the empty cup out.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" she asked, looking up at the party boy.

"Well," he gave it some thought, "The fresh air is going to sober you up in no time, and that's not what we're aiming at here."

Haruko chuckled. He was right again, she was already feeling much more sober than before.

"So, I think I'll get the heavier artillery out before we hit the next venue. Not here, though, come on."

He motioned her to follow him with his head and threw his arm around her shoulder when she got close. "What do you have in mind?" she asked, putting her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"I may or may not have stopped by my dealer's place before picking you up." Terushima shrugged, smirking, "Figured you won't handle your alcohol well, so…"

He trailed off and pulled her into a shady-looking alley where she could see a few other people further down, the faint smell of weed coming from their direction filling her nose. Even if it was really frowned upon in Japan, students didn't seem to care much.

"You've come prepared, haven't you?" she raised her eyebrow at him as he leaned to the wall and started rolling up a joint.

"I'm always prepared."

She snorted, then leaned at the wall next to him and crossed her arms, watching him work. It was dark, but she still caught a glimpse of his tongue ring sparkle from the faint moonlight as he licked the side of the joint and closed it shut.

Part of Haruko wanted to _be_ that joint. Part of her really wanted to invite him back to her place. Part of her really wanted to just say 'fuck it' and sleep with him. Just to feel wanted and needed.

But she's done it before and knew all too well how weird things got between them afterwards. Even if that time was partly accidental.

Then she remembered.

"Hey, Teru…"

He was taking a lighter out of his pocket and turned to her. "Hm?"

"Sorry about being so distant back then, when you did our delivery. You didn't do anything wrong, I was just… The whole… Y'know. I'm sorry, I know you were trying to make things be as-"

"Haru-chan, chill. It's fine." Terushima cut her off and shook his head, "It's like you barely know me these days. You know I'm the last person to be upset about things like that."

She sighed. "I know. And I'm really thankful for that."

Terushima was a person who never let himself be tied down by anyone. He always came with no strings attached, and never worried about people coming and going from his life. That didn't mean he was heartless though – he had a small group of people he cared deeply for, a few close friends that were there for him when things went south, while he was there for them too, even when they don't talk for months or even years. They were the very few people that didn't judge him for his carefree lifestyle, too.

One of those friends was Haruko.

"Besides," he continued, "We were both there. You don't have to explain why you don't feel like seeing me, I know why. I chose not to talk about it as well. Actually, you don't have to explain yourself to me even if there's no valid reason. You just… you don't have to explain yourself to me. Ever."

Haruko gave him a slight nod, then turned away to stare into nothing. Terushima knew she was beginning to overthink things again, and he was going to have none of that.

"So, now that all that depressing shit is out of the way, would you like to do the honors?"

She turned to him again to see him holding the joint he rolled up in one hand, and his lighter in the other. Haruko chuckled taking both of them from him, putting her hand around the joint to shield the flame from the wind as she was lighting it up.

It's been way too long since she's smoked pot with Terushima.

Needless to say, a few joints later, paired up with more drinks, made the rest of the night a complete blur.

* * *

"Come oooooon!"

"Dude, no…"

"Come on, my treat, I know this guuuuy, he's gonna give us a discount, too."

"Li-Listen, I… I am exsi-.. excesvel-.. _excessively_ too high to be making good life choices right now."

"Okay, okay, hang on, consider this – it's… Wait, hang on, I haven't- I haven't figured my argument out yet, hold on."

"Y'know- Y'know what, screw it, let's do it."

* * *

 **AN:** oh wow I am so sorry. me: is writing an oikawa fic. also me: includes zero oikawa in the entire chapter.

Please bear with me, I am getting there! Gotta get through the background stuff out of the way first. Starting from the next chapter it's gonna be full-on Oiks so thank you for being so patient with me! :')

Don't do drugs though, kids. Only reason I'm writing this in is because the first time I saw Teru I'm like... yes, yes this person definitely does weed. It's a headcanon I can never unsee.


	11. Chapter 11

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 11**

Step one: do not stand or sit up quickly after a long night out.

Failed step one.

Immediate regret came over Haruko, along with a massive headache, as soon as she shot up from the bed. She groaned out loud, trying to pry her eyes open and figure out just where in the hell she is.

Her groaning made someone shuffle in their sleep – she noticed Terushima sleeping on a couch in the tiny room she was in. She looked around, her hand on her head, and her throat dry. It was a tiny college-like dorm room with a desk, a couch, the bed she was on, a dresser and some edgy band posters on the walls, as well as a mirror. Haruko could have sworn she's seen the same posters in the bar she works in. She figured this was Teru's dorm room.

The shock pain from her head soon subdued to a bearable level and most of the leftover pain went straight into her tongue.

 _Wait, what?_

Haruko sat on the bed flicking her tongue a few times, trying to figure out why it's so sore. It didn't take long for the realization to hit.

 _Oh HELL no._

She shot up from the bed (which, of course, did a number on her headache, but there were more pressing matters at hand) and quickly went over to the mirror. Before investigating her concerns, she noticed that she was wearing the exact same clothes from last night.

Haruko then opened her mouth and stepped closer to the mirror. She was correct.

She had a tongue piercing.

"You've got to be joking!"

Haruko glared at Terushima who was now groaning and slowly waking up from her outburst.

"Where's the fire..?"

"Dude! I have a freaking tongue piercing!" she exclaimed, still glaring at him while he was still trying to focus his vision.

"Wha..?"

He heavily sat up, rubbing his eyes – the man seemed to have no hangover whatsoever, he was just sleepy – and questioningly looked at Haruko. She shook her head slightly and stuck her tongue out, pointing at the piercing.

"Oooh. Right, that happened." he raised his eyebrows and then grinned like an idiot, "Siiiiick, we match now!"

Haruko cupped her face in her hands and let out a very loud "UUUURGHHHHHHH."

"What are you complaining about? It looks good!" Terushima said.

"Oh yeah, because I definitely want a ton of people fantasizing about me going down on them because of this thing. It looks kinky, I'm taking it out."

"No no no no no!" he lifted his hands up motioning Haruko to stop, "You gotta keep it in for at least two months, unless you want an infection."

"Are you serious? You can't possibly expect me to go to class with this?"

"Well, just… Just don't show anyone? And don't talk much?"

"For _two months_?"

Terushima shrugged humming and "I don't know" sound at her.

Haruko put her hands back down and let out another groan. "How did this even happen? Like, I barely remember anything from last, just a few things, it's like there's a slideshow in my head…"

He leaned back on the sofa as Haruko sat next to him doing the same. "Well, I can sum it up for you. We went to some club, you didn't do well with your alcohol, so we went behind it to smoke."

"Yeah, that much I can recall."

"Right, so after that we went to a different club, and when we came out for some fresh air and another joint, I saw my buddy Toshi who did all of my piercings. And I'm like, shit, I have a great idea. You just kind of rolled with it."

Haruko let out yet another groan.

"Anyway, he didn't even bother using painkillers cause you were too high to feel anything, it was impressive even. So we got you a piercing and went to another club where we joined some of my friends, then left with them cause they were headed to a house party, spent some time there, then came back to my humble abode," he stretched his arms out to motion at his furniture, "ordered some pizza, which, you insisted was the best thing you've ever eaten in your life, even though it was from the shady pizza place down the road, and then we just talked for a few hours, finishing up the two joints I had left. Then you fell asleep and I went to sleep too."

"Okay, I remember that pizza, it was a good pizza. I also remember not being able to figure out how to open the box."

"Haha yeah, that was fun."

The two laughed in unison, making Haruko put her hand on her head again because of the loud noise. This was going to be a long day. "Ow…"

"Ah, hang on…"

Terushima got up to look for painkillers and soon threw a small box of them at her, as well as a bottle of water. She held the bottle up, telling him "I'm keeping this for the day."

"Sure, sure. What's the plan, anyway? Cause I'm definitely not ready to survive a lecture, screw that."

Then it hit her.

It was Monday.

She had class.

"SHIT!" Haruko exclaimed, "What's the time?"

Terushima shuffled around looking for his phone.

"Uuuh, 12:15pm?"

"Shiiiiiit I had class this morning! And I have another class in 15 minutes!" she panicked.

"You're seriously going to go to-"

"PLEASE give me a ride to Shokey!"

Terushima looked up to the desperate girl next to him. Well, it wasn't his place to judge – not everyone could allow themselves to skip class and still do well. He sighed. "Fiiiine."

Haruko clapped her hands together (quietly!) and rushed to the door, realization quickly coming over her as she saw herself in the mirror. Her makeup had _somehow_ survived, all but the red lipstick at least, and her hair was a bit messy, but bearable.

Her outfit, however, wasn't exactly casual – the jeans and white sneakers worked, but the leather jacket and a blouse she called ' _the cleavage shirt'_ was a no-no. The tongue piercing didn't help.

"Dude, wait, I can't go in looking like this."

Terushima quickly eyed her while putting his own sneakers on. "I mean… you _can_ , no one is _technically_ stopping you…"

"You are _literally_ looking at my cleavage right now."

"…Yeah, you want a hoodie or something?"

"Please."

* * *

Haruko got off Terushima's motorcycle as he stopped by the university's gates, gave him a quick hug and a "see you later" wave, and finally rushed off towards her class, minutes left before it was supposed to begin.

She didn't even have her phone to check the actual time – just the water bottle she had taken from Teru. His plain grey hoodie was definitely oversized, but it worked well enough. She had left the leather jacket at his dorm, hoping that she will eventually get it back. No point in carrying it around all day.

Haruko put the water bottle and her hands into the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie and skipped over to her class, entering seconds before the lecture began. She gave a quick wave to Iwaizumi and Oikawa a few rows behind her own desk, who, she could have sworn, were holding grins in. Um, okay?

She quietly asked to borrow some paper and a pen from the person sitting next to her and started taking notes, as difficult as it was.

* * *

Haruko thanked the girl who stayed behind after the lecture to help her catch up with what she had missed in the morning – thank heavens this person took the same morning class as she did. Everyone else had left at that point, so she decided to make her way to the 'volley-sofa' to meet up with her friends before volleyball practice.

This weekend felt so long, it felt like she hadn't seen them in months. As she was walking towards the lounge area she realized there are probably 700+ group chat messages waiting for her at home.

Haruko saw Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Maki and Daiki, 'the fantastic four' as she liked to call them, as well as one more boy from the team, who's name she still can't remember. She wanted to say hello as she approached them, but before she could even open her mouth, Maki noticed her and nearly yelled.

"Hooooly shit she's alive!"

"Yooooooo!" with a quick follow-up from Daiki, the rest of them started snickering.

The girl squinted at them, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Oikawa was about to say something, only to be cut off by Maki shoving his hand in Oikawa's face, "Show us the piercing!"

Haruko's eyes widened and she furrowed her eyebrows, "How do you know about that?.."

Oikawa was once again about to say something, but Maki repeated exactly what he did before and cut him off, "Show us and we'll tell you."

She watched Oikawa shove Maki off and take off his glasses to clean them from his fingerprints. Haruko squinted at the glasses-boy, he clearly knew something. But how..?

He put his glasses back on and turned to her, smirking, "Sooo? I was just going to tell you but I like Maki-chan's plan more." he teased.

 _Great, he's back to his old, shitty self. Fabulous._

She groaned for the billionth time today. They had the upper hand and knew about it anyway, might as well.

She looked to the side, rolling her eyes and opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out.

Haruko could have sworn she saw Oikawa sink into his seat in the corner of her eye, but couldn't process that because her thoughts were cut off by the volley-boys _McFreakin' losin' it_.

"You actually got it oh my goooood!"  
"You wilddd!"  
"Holy shit!"

A few hyena-type laughs from the boys made Haruko's headache kick in again.

"Uuugh, inside voices, _please_!" she crossed her arms, glaring at the group, "Now will you tell me how you found out about this?"

The group glanced over at Oikawa, of _course_ it had to be his doing, and he sighed. "Alright, alright."

She watched him take his phone out of his pocket and click a few times. Then he turned the screen to her.

Eyes wide, she grabbed the phone from his hands and stared at the photo.

"That son of a bitch!"

"Whoa, language!" Maki said, trying his best not to laugh and failing miserably.

Ignoring him, Haruko focused on what she was looking at. The little shit named Terushima Yuuji had apparently been taking selfies and photos all night, as well as uploading them to Snapchat. And there they were, taking a selfie together in some club. It would be all fine and dandy if both of them weren't making a really suggestive 'tongue between two fingers' gesture together.

"Move."

She glared at Oikawa who, just like the rest of them, was doing his best to suppress his grin, and he shuffled over closer to Maki to give her space to sit down.

Haruko started flicking through all the photos Terushima had uploaded to Snapchat – good gracious there was even a video of her getting the piercing, it really _did_ look like she couldn't feel anything. That, along with photos of them playing beer pong (which they had apparently won), tons of selfies with random strangers from clubs and the house party they went to, all topped off with a final picture of Haruko sitting on the ground at his dorm room, eating pizza and giving it a thumbs up.

She sighed, relieved there was nothing _too_ embarrassing on there and slid Oikawa's phone on the table back to him. Her hopes to have a single quiet moment were in vain, as Maki spoke up again.

"Ikeda-san, how do you even know him? The guy's a legend!"

She lifted her head at Maki and realized he's talking about Terushima. _Legend_ was a bit farfetched, but whatever.

"We met at a party once I think, back in high school. I've known him for years."

Haruko noticed Daiki in the corner who was about to make some "ooh la la" sound or something equally as dumb as that, and cut him off before he could do so, "We're _friends_."

A short silence followed, broken by the social boy Maki again, "You know, I'm just gonna come out and say what we're all thinking."

Haruko raised her eyebrow at him.

"That look really suits you."

"Maki!" the other team members scolded him in unison, making Haruko realize that they may or may not have discussed her 'nightly outfit' before she showed up.

But she decided to dismiss him and rolled her eyes, "Oh keep it in your pants, Maki."

She then turned to Oikawa who was still sitting next to her, "And _you_ – don't think I haven't noticed you've been staring at me for the past five minutes. I've told you before and I'll tell you again, take a picture, it'll last longer."

At first Haruko could have sworn she saw him flinch at her callout, but much to her dismay, the boy recovered very quickly.

"Oh don't worry, I already took plenty of Snapchat screenshots. I'm good."

She gave him a quick glare before shoving her face into her hands and doing the same "UUUUUUUUGH" she did in the morning. This day was getting better every second.

She grabbed her water bottle off the table, stood up and started heading towards the changing room where she kept her tracksuit. "See you in practice, you assholes."

"Byeeeee!"

"Please don't leave us, we loooveee youuuu!"

"You can't run from us Ikeda-saaan!"

She continued to be on her way, shook her head and chuckled, taking a sip from her water bottle. They were idiots, but they were _her_ idiots.

* * *

"I'll be right behind you."

Iwaizumi nodded at Oikawa and left him behind to head to practice. The latter was dealing with some emails from university, typing replies out on his phone. He's not one to be late to practice, if anything he would usually be the first one to show up, but he decided that _he needs a freaking minute_.

What the hell was that?

Reluctantly Oikawa flicked through his phone to get to his image folder and opened one of the photos he had saved this morning. The same one he showed Haruko just a few minutes back. Except with Terushima cropped out.

He stared at it for a while. Then closed it and tried really, really hard not to think about how his heart sunk when Haruko stood there with her mouth open and pierced tongue out. He failed miserably and couldn't stop thinking about how much he wanted to-... Wait, what _did_ he want to do?

 _Uuuuugh I didn't even know I was into that…_

Oikawa sunk in his seat even more, his butt pretty much hanging in the air. He couldn't figure out what the hell he was feeling and that went on the never-ending list of things that bugged him about her.

Was he intimidated? Was he turned on? Was he both? For a few brief moments she had a look in her eyes that could kill a man, and for _some reason his stupid brain had to find that attractive, like, really? Are you serious?_

You know what, nevermind any of that, it's cool, he's cool, it's all good. Nothing wrong with finding someone attractive. She was still a bitch, a judgmental, manipulative bitch. Yup.

Part of him wished he didn't know that. So he did his best to shove that part of himself deep, deep down into the back of his thoughts and got up to head to practice.

* * *

 **AN:** wow this turned out way longer than I thought it would be haha oops

also I just realized I forgot that Teru is a 2nd year and he technically should be a 3rd year right now, not in uni... we're just going to ignore thAT MY BAD


	12. Chapter 12

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 12**

 _Chapter note: excessive swearing at the end._

* * *

"God _DAMNIT_."

The other girls in the changing room turned to Haruko with questioning looks. She noticed them and sighed, turning to show them her hip, where a large hole in her pants was enough of an explanation – she had torn the pants of her tracksuit.

"Oh no, Ikeda-chan!" one of them exclaimed.

"Yeah, I don't think 'oh no' covers it… Ugh, who leaves exposed nails on the walls like this? I'm surprised I'm not _bleeding_ …" she rubbed the spot where the nail had caught on the fabric, as well as a bit of her skin – thankfully it was nothing more than a scratch. The pants, though, had torn pretty badly – she was just about to walk out when the fabric got caught, and the sudden tug did a pretty bad number on the piece of clothing.

"Hang on, you can't possibly go to practice in those…" one of the girls said, looking at Haruko who was desperately trying to put the fabric back in place.

Haruko felt bad she can't remember any of their names, despite meeting them in the changing room nearly every weekday. All she knew was that they were from the girls tennis club.

"Okay, well, this is all I've got…" the girl said, handing Haruko a sporty black skirt.

Right. Tennis club. Tennis skirts. Of course.

Better than going into practice with a huge hole in her pants. She quickly changed into it – it was short, but not too much, the skirt ended right before her knees. Admittedly, combined with the white and purple club jacket and white sneakers, it looked a lot better than the sweatpants she had.

"Ah, I'm so glad it fits!"

Haruko turned back to the girl, with her teammates nodding in approval. She smiled and thanked her for her help.

"How come you have an extra skirt anyway? Oh and where do I leave it after practice?"

She smiled at Haruko, "I always keep an extra in case of anything like _that_ ," she pointed at garbage bin in the corner, the one which Haruko had slam-dunked her sweatpants into, "ever happening. Just leave it on one of the chairs, if I finish practice before you I'll just pick it up tomorrow."

"Wow, you're prepared." Haruko chuckled, "Will do."

"Go cause some nosebleeds, Ikeda-chan!" one of the other tennis girls said, winking at her.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, and soon after went out saying goodbye to the girls. Usually Haruko would have her tablet computer with her to take notes, but seeing as she didn't even have her phone, she decided she would have to borrow a clipboard from coach Mukai, or help out in other ways today.

* * *

Oikawa rolled his eyes at his teammates in their club room room – they've been going on about their manager for the past 10 minutes, non-stop, which led them to do a simple task of changing into their sportswear way longer than it would usually take.

"I mean not only did we get a manager, not only did we get a _cute_ manager, we actually got a manager that's _hot as hell_! I almost regret coming to Shokey and I wanna punch my past self now for ever thinking that."

One of the other teammates turned to Maki, "Cute managers are _so_ high-school, hot managers are like, a step-up from that game. Where did you even find her?"

"We didn't! She found us! She just showed up one day!" Maki explained, a little too loudly.

Oikawa had been quiet throughout the whole conversation, dressed and ready to go while his teammates were in no hurry whatsoever. As captain he wanted to rush them, but as a person he knew that if he said anything they would start teasing him for _very obviously staring_ at her himself, which would then lead to him possibly blurting out something he shouldn't say.

With every bit of fondness his teammates showed for Haruko – whether it was her personality or looks – Oikawa grew more and more annoyed. Sure, there was a chance she genuinely cared for the team, but the fact about her original intentions still stood and he had to hold back from telling his team so much.

 _Don't you see that she was just using you to get to me?_

Every time he would repeat those words in his head he would go through every possible scenario to follow, none of which were pretty. They're all so head over heels for her, they would be crushed.

Oikawa figured that he would be, too. He didn't know if it was because he would be upset over seeing his teammates hurt, or because he was finding it hard to repress the fact that he had the hots for her too.

That was another topic all on its own. Finding someone so attractive, someone who hits all your weaknesses at once, even those you _didn't even know you had_ , was usually a good thing. But not when you knew you can't have the person, ever.

Part of him wanted to stop caring about her selfish intentions. But if he did hook up with her, he would be walking right into what she wanted in the first place.

Oikawa Tooru was no one's boy-toy.

"Dude, what if I asked her out?"

He groaned, rolling his eyes. If he was going to keep quiet about what he knew, he would have to deal with this kind of shit. Constantly.

"Maki, if Terushima is her type, then you're way out of her league. We all are."

"Yeah but she said they're just friends…" he whined. "Come on, don't tell me you've never thought about asking her out!"

"Hey, hey, I respect my teammates, and if none of us get her, then-… Alright who am I kidding, we've all thought about it."

"Especially after she got that piercing." Daiki added from the other side of the room, earning several nods and noises of approval from the team. "Like, I know that was yesterday, but _damn_."

Right. The piercing. That god damn piercing. _Thanks for putting that image back into my head, Daiki._

Part of Oikawa was glad that he wasn't the only one obsessing over it. Part of him was jealous.

Because every time he would remember it, he couldn't help but wonder what her tongue and that piercing would feel like on his di-

 _NOPE._

He shot up and head straight out the door. "OKAY, time for practice, let's GO."

A few of his teammates had even flinched at their captain's sudden movement, especially when he had been quiet the entire time. Shrugging it off, they followed him to the gym, and, unknown to them, to their demise.

* * *

 _You've got to be kidding me._

Oikawa, as well as anyone else who had noticed Haruko walk into the gym, stopped doing whatever they were doing and couldn't help but stare at her.

 _This woman is going to kill me._

As if the piercing wasn't enough, she had walked into the gym with a tennis skirt. A goddamn tennis skirt.

Haruko sighed, clearly feeling their eyes glued to her, and brought up the whistle she had hanging around her neck to her lips.

'FWIIIIIIIIIP'

The loud whistle noise made the rest of the teammates turn to her, standing near the entrance with a clipboard. Great, now all of them had their eyes glued to her, at this point Haruko couldn't tell if she felt flattered or uncomfortable.

The boys took a moment to register that she needs them to come over, which they did more than happily. Those that haven't seen her earlier said their hellos, some with their voices an octave higher than usual.

 _This is going to be a long day…_

She sighed and began, "Okay, so, before _any_ of you say anything like 'what's with the new outfit', _Maki, Daiki, and/or Oikawa_ ," the boys pressed their lips at the glare and callout she gave them, "my pants got ripped and I had to borrow this from the tennis club girls. So don't get used to it."

With a stern voice, she continued, "As if my day couldn't get any better, I'm also in charge of you lot for today. Mukai-sensei caught up with me while I was coming over, asking me to cover for him – he had to go to a meeting, which will probably last for the rest of the day. He gave me a list of things you all need to do, and told me to tell you, ahem..."

She cleared her throat and began imitating their coach's voice.

"If they don't do as you say, you tell me and I will make sure they all regret it after I make them do 100 serves."

The team flinched in sync. Good.

Haruko had to admit it was fun being in charge.

"So," she spoke up again, clicking her pen and bringing her clipboard closer, "shall we get started?"

* * *

Oikawa was running behind two of his team members on their last run of the day.

"Do you think there's a way we could convince her to keep the skirt?"

"Pff, ask her yourself dude, I ain't doing that."

"No way! She's intimidating as hell!"

"Yeah, that's why I said I ain't asking her, she's on another level!"

Oikawa sighed, the end of his sigh turning more into a groan. His teammates didn't hear him and simply continued with their conversation.

Most of his teammates were distracted all day, focused more on trying to impress their manager than do any actual training. Sure, they did do what they needed to do, otherwise she would have gotten them in trouble, and honestly they were too intimidated not to comply with her orders.

It wasn't like they didn't do the work. It wasn't like they slacked off. If anything, his teammates were more in-check than ever when she played the role of their coach.

It was the effect she had on them that pissed him off. It was the effect she had on _him_.

Oikawa and the last few of his teammates soon ended up back at the gym after their evening run, ready to pack up and go. He, however, decided that he needs to blow some steam off. After a short argument with Iwaizumi about 'overworking himself AGAIN', his friend gave in, telling Oikawa that if he doesn't send him a selfie in 30 minutes, where Iwaizumi could see that he's out of his gym clothes and is going home, he won't live to see tomorrow. Iwa also added that this is the first and last time he would ask for a selfie to be sent to him.

The boys left, leaving only him and Haruko behind. She stood next to the gym door, arms crossed, raising an eyebrow at him, asking a wordless 'Well?'.

"I'll practice serves for a little longer."

He turned around and grabbed a volleyball, heading towards the end of the court before Haruko could say anything. She let her hands down and let out a sigh, "Oikawa, I want to go home."

"Then go home."

She lifted her hands a bit, making a silent 'seriously?' movement, parting her lips. Out of all the days he had to be a little shit, it had to be today?

Oh, wait, that's _every day._

"I can't go home without locking the gym, and I need to give the keys to Mukai-sensei tomorrow morning."

Oikawa almost told her to just leave the keys with him, but stopped. Right, like he's going to be doing her any favors.

"Well _I_ need to practice." he spat, still on his way, not sparing her a single look.

 _I can't believe Iwa left me to deal with this child on my own._

Haruko wasn't going to back down. She was just as stubborn as he was, if not more. She began picking up the leftover volleyballs and putting them away.

She watched Oikawa do a serve, and as the ball bounced off the court, she caught it and shoved it into the ball storage box, glaring at him.

He did another one. She caught it too, and shoved it into the box just like the first one. Oikawa squinted at her, furrowing his brows.

He served again, this time so dangerously close to her that she could feel her hair get picked up by the wind. She caught it again as it bounced off the wall, gripping it with more force than usual.

 _Is he… is he trying to intimidate me? Is he fucking serious?_

She shoved the ball into the box again, glaring at him with more anger in her eyes than before. Haruko was too far away to hear him groan, glaring right back at her.

"Are you fucking _done,_ Trashykawa?" she yelled over to him, seeing him have the last ball on the court. One more and she can shove the box into the storage room, locking it before he can come over, leaving him with nothing to practice with.

Seeing her being all high-and-mighty with one hand on her hip made his blood boil even more. So much for blowing steam off. Not only that, she had the audacity to talk to him with that condescending voice and nickname? That's a first.

 _Don't._

Oikawa threw the ball into the air.

 _Tell me._

He moved forward.

 _What._

He jumped.

 _To DO._

And he smacked the ball with all the energy he didn't even know he had left.

 _OH SHIT._

His eyes widened and he flinched as he began to land, time slowing down around him as he realized what he had done. He launched the ball straight at her.

To Haruko, time had slowed down as well and her body began to move on its own.

 _Now this stunt is low even for YOU, Oikawa._

She could have moved away. She had more than enough time to move out of the way. But that would make him feel like he won.

So instead she didn't take her eyes off the ball, brought her leg forward while bending her knees slightly, and put her arms together, breathing in momentarily to brace herself.

The ball hit her arms with a force she didn't think humans were capable of having and ended up knocking her backwards. She fell, catching a glimpse of Oikawa's face trailing from her own towards something above her.

A face so shocked, she wished she could take a picture of and frame to put on her wall.

Haruko trailed his gaze and looked above her, landing painfully on her butt while doing so, as if the ridiculous pain in her arms wasn't enough. Then she mimicked his expression.

The ball was above her. It went up. Not only did it go up, it did that in a beautiful fashion.

It was a near-perfect receive.

 _Holy shit._

Both of them had the same thought at the same time, Haruko's followed by _I can't believe that worked._

The ball landed a little bit in front of her and bounced, so she leaned over to catch it as it bounced off the ground the second time. She glanced over to Oikawa with the calmest, blankest expression she had, seeing him in the same position, as if unable to move.

She closed her eyes and helped herself up, brushing herself off like it was nothing. Holding the ball under one arm, she made her way towards Oikawa. What was just a few seconds seemed like an eternity to him, because she looked like she was definitely, absolutely, one hundred percent going to kill him.

Haruko stopped in front of him and held the volleyball with both hands, looking down at it with raised eyebrows. He parted his lips to say something, but nothing would come out, his thoughts all mixed up between 'I'm sorry', 'I can't believe you received it?', 'what the hell?', 'shit I went too far' and 20 other things. And none of them would come out.

He wasn't given any more time to think as Haruko shoved the volleyball into his stomach, making him grip it and wince from the pain. She shot him the deadliest glare he's ever seen.

"I'm your _manager_." Haruko spat, " _Not_ your maid."

She let go of the volleyball and turned around, heading towards the exit. "Have fun cleaning up by yourself."

Oikawa trailed her with his eyes and saw her dump the keys on the bench next to the door.

And then she was just… gone.

 _That's… that's it?_

Oikawa cursed himself under his breath for going too far. What made him feel even worse was that that's all she said. And the back of his mind was yelling at him that she was only putting up with this for the team's sake.

* * *

The moment Haruko went around the corner of the gym she pressed her back against the wall and slid down, holding her arms between her thighs, letting out a loud groan from the pain. She was really, really hoping Oikawa hadn't followed her.

 _Owwwwwwwww…_

It hurt like hell. How was it even humanly possible to launch a ball with such force? What was he, a monster?

Haruko rested her forehead on her knees.

Her pained face soon had the biggest shit-eating grin you had ever seen.

 _But I looked so fucking cooooool._

She chuckled at her own ridiculousness. That was pure luck. She couldn't believe that actually worked, this whole ordeal could have went _so_ wrong. The ball could have easily launched back at her face, and with that force it would have definitely broken her nose, and the asshole would have never let that go. But no, it worked out perfectly, and seeing Oikawa in the state he was in was worth the pain.

 _Oikawa 0 – 1 Haruko._

Haruko slowly stood up, shaking her arms a bit, as if trying to shake the pain away, but that didn't work. She was bound to wake up with two huge bruises where the ball had landed.

She started making her way towards the building with the changing room, thinking the event over. Sure, it worked out to her advantage, but the fact was that the asshole had launched a ball at her out of rage. Her satisfaction was slowly taken over by disappointment.

 _For the team, Haruko,_ she inhaled, _for the team._

She changed back into her clothes, leaving the skirt on a chair in the changing room just like the girl had asked, and put on the hoodie she had borrowed from Terushima in the morning – it was getting cold outside, so she thanked him in her head. Borrowing it was a good idea.

She walked towards the exit of Shokey, seeing students here and there still studying and chatting. Some she recognized from other clubs, and soon bumped into a few girls from the baking club who had stricken up a conversation with her. Not wanting to be rude, she stayed with them for a bit.

* * *

Haruko sat down on a bench just outside of her university and leaned her head back, taking in the evening breeze. It was getting dark. Hands in the hoodie's kangaroo pocket she sighed again, trying to relax before making her way home. She had been on her feet way too long, she hadn't been home since Sunday night, and what happened at the gym took a toll on her both emotionally and physically.

After she said goodbye to the baking club girls she decided to give herself a moment to just exist. Nothing else. Just be there.

Haruko opened her eyes for a split second and shut them back up, cursing in her head. She couldn't have a single moment without some drama or other bullshit happening, could she?

"What do _you_ want?"

"...Okay, shit, if I come here to apologize can you at least not make it harder with the attitude?"

She opened her eyes again and looked at Oikawa who she had noticed with the corner of her eyes a second ago. He had his normal clothes on and had his messenger bag slung over his shoulder. And those goddamn glasses.

"Wow." she said, trailing Oikawa as he sat down next to her, not sparing her a single look, "I'm torn between asking you how you can tell me not to have an attitude after that stunt, and between asking you where you learned to apologize like that. Take your pick."

Oikawa rolled his eyes, trying to suppress his breathless sigh turning into a groan. She wasn't going to make this easy, of course she wasn't.

"Look, I admit I went too far, this is the best I can do-"

"Well then your best isn't good enough," she cut him off, "especially after lashing out at me for no goddamn reason."

Oikawa glared at her, "Take it or leave it."

"I'll leave it, thanks." she said, looking into nothing ahead of her.

"Oh for fuck's sake, why do you have to be such a bitch when I am really trying here?"

He almost regret saying that when she shot her gaze back at him. "Ex-CUSE ME?"

Oikawa closed his eyes and cursed at himself for going off at her. Again.

"You have the fucking audacity to call me a bitch after you launch a volleyball at me? I don't remember signing up for target practice where _I'm_ the goddamn target. You pull that shit again and I'll make sure you regret it."

"Did…" Oikawa rested his arm on the back of the bench and tugged one of his legs under the other, facing her with his whole body, "…did you seriously just threaten me?"

Haruko mimicked her pose, not wanting to back down. "Yes, I did."

"Wow, you and what army?"

"Your teammates."

Oikawa was taken aback by that one. He furrowed his brows for the billionth time today. She was right. She had the full power to turn their teammates against him. He knew that for a long time, he just didn't expect her to actually use that on him, even if at the moment it was just a threat.

 _You know what? Fuck the apology._

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry," he said with the most sarcastic voice he could pull, "I didn't want to upset you! I really thought Ike-chan would loooove to spend some time _alone_ with me!"

Oikawa had really hoped to catch her off guard with that, but instead, his last hope of her not knowing that he knows was shattered right then and there.

"Oh my god. I fucking knew it. I knew it. I knew this was all about that. You actually still think I'm doing this for you, don't you?"

Okay, she definitely knew he knew. They both knew that… that they both knew. They knew.

"As if you gave me any reason to think you're not." Oikawa said, squinting at her.

"Are you fucking KIDDING me?" she threw her hands into the air, "You mean that you actually believe that I've been working my ass off, while also dealing with your dumbass antics, just to bang you?"

Oikawa resting his head on his hand only annoyed her more, "Again, never gave me a reason to think otherwise."

"WOW. Listen here, you little _shit_ , the only reason I didn't tell you that I knew you were lying was out of good heart, thinking you would confess you were."

"Wait, hold on," he sat up straight again, "are you seriously trying to put the blame on me? I'm sorry, last time I checked, I wasn't the manipulative bitch who was ready to use others to her advantage?"

"Ohhhh my gooood, will you get over that already? Like, have you seen yourself in the mirror? So what if I wanted to get with you the first time I saw you, so did a lot of other people, except that I was the only one to actually take action on that. And shit, okay, maybe it was a shitty thing to do, but if I could go back I wouldn't change a thing – my dumb decisions led me to where I am. And I'm happy with where I am, all apart from having to deal with _you_."

Oikawa leaned closer to her, nearly growling at this point, "That doesn't change the fact that you were being selfish, and on top of that, judgmental. How about this: don't talk shit about people when you don't know them? Have you considered that before calling me a playboy, especially when you yourself wanted to _fuck me_ to, I don't fucking know, feel less lonely or some shit?"

Haruko's shoulders dropped slightly, making Oikawa realize he hit a nerve. The rational part of him wanted to undo that, but the angry part of him was overpowering any rational thought and was only trying to do as much damage as it could.

"You know what, screw you for that one, Oikawa. Take your own fucking advice instead of being hypocritical, and don't talk shit about people when you don't know them."

"Really? Again, you're putting the blame on me when _you_ were going to use me as a boy-toy? Don't try to turn this around when you're _clearly_ in the wrong."

"Oh, and you're a fucking angel, aren't you? Instead of confronting me about it, you were riding the situation for _weeks_ only to benefit yourself. How is _that_ not using someone to your advantage, huh?"

Now it was time for Oikawa's shoulders to drop. _Shit._

"Okay. Fine. It is. But the difference between you and me is that I'm not the one who started it. I only did that out of… fuck, I don't know, frustration? Or revenge or some shit?"

"Hang on, hang on, how am I the one who started this? If you wouldn't have read my diary, if you had _any_ _fucking respect_ for people's privacy, none of this would have happened! We would be a nice, happy team, but no, instead you had to pry and find out about something that wasn't even valid anymore! Not only that, you had to be a dick about it!"

Both of them were getting closer and closer to each other throughout the whole argument, standing their ground (or sitting, in this case) like animals. Both of them couldn't believe that the other party was convinced it's their fault.

To Oikawa, it was unreasonable that he was to blame when she had been selfish, manipulative and judgmental, even if that had changed over time.

To Haruko, it was unreasonable that she was to blame when she had been working so hard to make up for her past mistakes, and when _he_ was the one lying and _actually_ using her in the end.

"You're a selfish bitch, you know that?" Oikawa growled, pushing her forehead back with his own.

"And you're a lying prick, so I guess we're even." she pushed him back, staring into his eyes.

The two were breathing heavily, silence following, but neither backing down.

After he felt her breath on his skin, two things happened.

First, Oikawa realized how close he was. Second, something inside him clicked.

His eyes darted down to her lips. Without even thinking, he leaned in.

Haruko, however, reacted very quickly and shot back, eyes wide, and stood up. "Are you _fucking kidding me_ right now?"

Oikawa snapped out of it at her words, unable to move or even look away from the empty seat in front of me.

"Are you _that_ high and mighty that you need _to test_ if I'm saying the truth about hating your ass?" she yelled, "What did you expect from that? That you'd kiss me and I'd confess some shit like being head over heels for you? Cute, _real_ cute. I thought launching a volleyball at me was a low blow even for you, but this one tops it."

She shook her head and began walking away, "Fuck you, Oikawa. Great apology, by the way."

* * *

Oikawa sat on the bench for a while after the girl had left, trying to process what just happened. Slowly snapping out of it, he brought his hand to his mouth.

He almost kissed her.

'… _that you need to test if I'm saying the truth?'_

Everything would be fine and dandy… if he had _actually meant to do that._

* * *

 **AN:** I PROMISE I'LL FIX THIS TRAINWRECK IN THE NEXT CHAPTER

Also wow this chapter is twice as long as the others. We hit the bit in the summary, yay :D

You have no idea how excited I am to write the next chapter, but it will probably be a week or two because my uni deadlines are coming up.

As always thank you for the reviews / favs / follows / comments / kudos! I see each and every one of you :')


	13. Chapter 13

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 13**

It was clear that Oikawa had been avoiding her all week. And to be fair, she was too. Neither of them had said a thing about their argument to the team and did their best to act normal. Neither of them had even spoken to each other ever since, not directly at least, only between teammates, so it was a wordless agreement to keep their differences between themselves.

For the team.

Thursday was the worst, which was sad because for a while it was Haruko's favorite day to spend with her new favorite person. Now it was the complete opposite. The lecture that neither of them had ever cared about suddenly turned into the most 'interesting' thing in the world, so 'interesting' that neither of them would take their eyes off their notes and the professor, despite sitting next to each other for 3 hours with very few breaks. Unsurprisingly, the class was full of students looking for easy credits, so they had to stick to their old seats.

Haruko sighed.

This was…

So…

 _BORING._

She hadn't even noticed how incredibly boring this class was. All because every single time she would spend the entire class talking to Oikawa. She wanted this stupid, awkward, unnecessary situation to be over already. Neither of them were completely right, they both made mistakes and said things they shouldn't have. A few times Haruko had almost worked the nerve up to ' _be the bigger person_ ' and begin apologizing, and each time she would see his smug face, remember how their last apology / make-up went, and quit.

She stretched her arms out, put them on a table and used them as a pillow.

 _How much longer, uuuuuugh…_

The lecture had started just 20 minutes ago.

* * *

Oikawa eyed the girl next to him as she sunk her head into her arms. For a moment, when she had stretched beforehand, her hoodie's sleeves went up and he noticed two ugly bruises on her arms.

He felt horrible. For many reasons. One of them was, of course, those bruises. Those were 100% his fault. He felt bad for going too far, on several occasions actually, and had no idea how to _properly_ apologize. Every time he would work up the nerve to talk to her _at all_ , about any topic, he would remember how their last conversation went and give up. He was still angry, and on top of that… _uncomfortable._

What he almost did that evening was still haunting him. Attempting to kiss her was completely unintentional. Oikawa had been avoiding her for the past few days not just because he was still angry, but because he didn't trust himself not to do something stupid around her. Not now, at least, not until this whole thing blows over.

Will it blow over though? And how much longer until it does? Because, honestly, this lecture is boring as hell and there's no way he can do this for the rest of the year.

Oikawa scanned the room trying to find some sort of entertainment that does not involve counting how many chairs are in the room and noticed Daiki looking at him from a few rows below. Most Thursdays Oikawa would forget he's even in this class.

He saw Daiki mouth a 'finally', figuring the boy had been trying to get his attention for a while now. Daiki held his phone in one hand and pointed at it with the other.

Oikawa took the hint and took his own phone out of his pocket, noticing a few messages in their group chat.

* * *

Daiki: Ikeda-san

Daiki: I-ke-da-saaaaaaan

Daiki: goddamnit is she asleep

Daiki: oh ok it looks like she is

Daiki: Oikawa

Daiki: Oikawaaaaa

Daiki: Oiks holy shit take your phone off silent mode for once

Daiki: do I have to throw something at you

Captain Asshole: WHAT

Captain Asshole: also who keeps changing my nickname, this one isn't even original

Daiki: FINALLYYYYY

Daiki: ask Ikeda-san if she's coming with us to the arcade today

* * *

Oikawa froze. They hadn't spoken in days, but no one else knew they were on no-speaking terms. If he buys enough time maybe she would wake up (is she even asleep or just resting?) and check her phone without him having to talk to her.

* * *

Captain Asshole: today?

Daiki: yeah dude

Daiki: did you forget?

Daiki: you forgot didn't you

* * *

He didn't forget.

* * *

Captain Asshole: okay now I can tell why Iwa-chan complains about double-texting

Captain Asshole: but yeah I may or may not have forgotten? Today when?

Daiki: oh my stars

Daiki: after class! the gym is having some refurbs done, there's no practice

Daiki: ask Ikeda-san

* * *

Oikawa was running out of trivial questions to ask sooner than he thought. At least questions that wouldn't make it obvious he's avoiding asking Haruko about it. Before he knew it, he was cornered.

* * *

Iwa: hey some of us have classes we actually care about

Maki: yeah my phone's become a vibrator thanks to you guys

Maki: I mean I'm guilty of double-texting too but come on

* * *

Oikawa saw Daiki turn back to him again, motioning him to ask Haruko about the arcade already.

How does he even begin? Hey, Ike-chan, I know we haven't spoken in days after that horrible argument but do you want to go to the arcade?

Sitting there doing nothing would make Daiki question things, so Oikawa sucked it up and poked her shoulder.

Haruko hadn't been sleeping after all, just resting, so she jumped at the sudden feeling, turning to the culprit next to her. She raised her eyebrow at him.

"I-Uh. Do you-?.. Um, you should check the group chat."

 _WOW, THAT WENT GREAT. WHAT'S AWKWARD ANYWAY? SLOW CLAP, SELF._

"Oh. Okay."

Haruko took her phone out and focused her attention on it, making Oikawa do a mental sigh of relief he didn't have to continue talking to her. Soon enough he saw her typing and checked his own phone again.

* * *

Manager-chan: hey hey sure, I'm free

Daiki: ayyyyy

Daiki: the squad's back in town

* * *

Being around each other was a little easier with other people around. It took their mind off things they hate about each other. And maybe going out all together was going to get them talking again, maybe even move them towards leaving their differences behind? Positive thinking, right?

WRONG.

Bringing two stubborn, childish assholes to a venue of competitive games was… a mistake. Without even noticing they began competing against each other everywhere they went, from zombie shooters that were _supposed_ to be cooperative, to racing each other towards the escalator.

But hey, at least they were talking again!

Well, 'bickering and throwing snarky comments at each other' was a more accurate description.

It all began with Iwaizumi telling the others how, when they were here last time, Oikawa had talked Haruko into playing Dance Dance Revolution with him and got her ass kicked. A few "yeah well I'm better at this and that" comments later, everything became a competition, with non-existent stakes becoming higher as time went on.

The group couldn't complain – it was definitely entertaining seeing the two 'fight to the death' on everything they did. There was the basketball machine, which, as an athlete _and_ tall person, Oikawa had an advantage on, then there was pinball, which wasn't even competitive until Haruko got her score on the high-score table.

She refused to play DDR with him again, but a few 'chicken-chan's later gave into the taunts, resulting in yet another crumbling defeat. But why stop there? Haruko convinced him that even claw-machines can be competitive, and they took turns sinking their change into the claw machine until one of them, claw-machine-senpai Haruko, won a dog plushie.

She shoved the plushie at someone next to her without even looking, which happened to be Maki, who accepted the gift and gave the other guys a shrug.

"What's next?"

Those two were far gone in their own little world.

* * *

In the end they found themselves at the opposite ends of an air-hockey table, ready to battle, the rest of the group standing on the side, waiting for the show-down to begin. Daiki was keeping a scoreboard on his phone on how many wins and losses Haruko and Oikawa had on each thing they competed on (yes, even the escalator race), and at this point they were at a tie.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, those two idiots are made for each other." Iwaizumi whispered, not wanting to break the tension the two had created over the day.

"Hey, yeah, they've been acting weird for a few days now, haven't they?" Maki asked, making Iwa raise his eyebrow.

"Hm? They have? I mean, I don't know about Ikeda-san, but Shittykawa has always been childishly competitive. Though…"

He trailed off to the sound of the first plastic air-hockey puck being hit on the table.

 _I haven't seen him this fired up for a while now…_

* * *

"GAH!" Haruko yelled, eyeing the score that had just changed into 5-6, Oikawa's lead. He was losing it on the other end of the table.

"Did you- did you just hit that into your _own goal_ pff-ahaha!"

She groaned, but wasted no time and turned his distraction against him.

DING!

She didn't even bother doing any trick shots, any diagonals, just hit the puck straight into the middle while Oikawa was gripping the table and laughing.

6 – 6.

"Wh-HEY! No fair, I wasn't ready!"

Haruko watched him take out the puck from his side of the table and place it down, agitated. She smirked, ready to finish this. "Oh don't talk to me about being fair."

"Tch. Not like you'd listen to me anyway." he snarled, hitting the plastic puck.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Haruko squinted, hitting it back and gripping her paddle tighter.

The boys next to them were starting to have trouble following their increasingly fast movements and the puck. Iwaizumi looked to the side where one of the staff members was clearly glaring at them. He then pointed at the side of the air hockey table, which had a "Please Do Not Hit The Puck With Excessive Force" sign on it, each word capitalized for some reason.

Iwa then turned back to the two players who were raising their voices and force as they went on. Their friendly rivalry was turning into something more than that.

"Uh, guys?"

"Oh PLEASE, you wouldn't know what _fair_ is if it was standing right next to you!" Haruko yelled over the loud 'ding' noises, both completely ignoring Iwaizumi, or, rather, not hearing him at all.

"Yo, you might want to calm dow-"

"You're one to talk when all you've been doing are trick shots!" Oikawa shot back, hitting the puck with even more force than before.

"Guys."

"Oh you and I _both_ know this isn't about the game, I'm not blind Oikawa, and neither are you!"

"GUYS."

"Hey, look at the bright side, this is the first time you're actually _right_ about something!"

"Dude, Iwa, they're gonna break the damn thing." Maki whispered, though no whispering was actually necessary seeing as they couldn't even hear Iwaizumi yelling at them.

"Oh and you're never wrong!"

"Please, enlighten me about a time I was wrong!"

Were they arguing? Yes. Were they too fired up? Yes. Were they taking the game way too far? Yes.

Were they smirking at each other and, somehow, were still having the time of their lives? Absolutely. The two were so focused on getting on each other's nerves it was actually becoming fun.

At least until other people started noticing it. Other people being Maki, who of course, had to make a nasty comment on everything.

"Oh, just _fuck already_!"

For a split second Oikawa lost his composure and hit the puck served to him at an awkward angle. Haruko panicked as well and made the angle even worse.

The wobbly air-hockey puck flew to the side of the table and caught on the edge, flying out of the boundaries. Before anyone could react, the puck hit something and made a 'thump' noise followed by a loud groan.

Eyes wide, the two players gasped dropping their paddles on the table and quit their game.

"Shit, get an ice-pack!"

* * *

"Iwa, I am SO sorry!"

Haruko was holding the ice pack on Iwaizumi's forehead as he was sitting on the stairs outside the arcade, tilting his head back. Oikawa was standing next to his friend as well.

"Seriously, Ike-chan, you need to be more careful…" he murmured. Clearly, he was upset about his best friend getting hurt, but seriously? Now?

She felt Iwaizumi take hold of the ice pack himself and she let go, turning to Oikawa, "What do you mean _me_?"

"The puck flew off _your_ paddle didn't it?"

"Yeah, the puck _you_ sent wobbling my way!"

"Oh, yeah, of course you're putting the blame on me again!"

"Why are you _so_ -"

"WILL YOU BOTH _SHUT UP_?"

The two flinched and shot their gazes at a very on-the-edge Iwaizumi. He stood up, still holding the ice pack on his forehead, and continued.

"I don't know _what_ is going on between you two, and frankly I don't want to know, but you've dragged me into it. And if you keep at it you'll drag other people into it as well, so sort out your differences, for fuck's sake. _Before_ anyone gets seriously injured. You're lucky the puck didn't hit my eye or some shit."

Oikawa and Haruko stood there with their lips pressed and after a pause, spoke up together.

"Sorry, Iwaizumi."  
"Sorry, Iwa-chan."

They glanced at each other. They were still angry at each other, both for what happened on Monday and for what happened just now. But they were too tired from competing against each other all day to actually have any of that anger show on their faces. That, as well as actually feeling really bad about nearly knocking Iwaizumi out.

"Good. That's a start." Iwa sighed.

The entire walk home neither of them said a word.

* * *

 **AN:** IWA I'M SORRY

Okay so I miscalculated and this isn't the "I'll fix things" and "I'm excited to write this" chapter, it's the _next one_ for sure haha. I would have continued into it but it's late and I had my deadline this morning (I submitted everything all good fam) and I'm tired :x I was gonna update on Saturday actually but impromptu Halloween weekend happened oops haha.

Anyway this was still fun to write! And yes, that air-hockey thingy that you hold is actually called a paddle. I googled it.

I have a week off uni now so expect The Update soon! Maybe even tomorrow, who knows.

(hey hey also nsfw in like 2 chapters ;) also nsfw stuff is kinda gonna be one of the main things driving the plot, so very in advance warning for those of you not into that)


	14. Chapter 14

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 14**

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Haruko took a deep breath.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go out there, serve her a drink, and I'll be fine. It's fine."

Kamiya, her manager, gave her a concerned look.

"You don't look fine, Haruko. You don't have to, I can serve her and she won't even know you're here."

"No. I have to. I'll have to do it eventually if she keeps coming here."

"Ikeda-chan, not to be a self-proclaimed therapist here, but it just sounds like you're looking for an excuse to talk to her."

Haruko stood up and started heading out of the break room.

"Come on. Break's over, isn't it?"

Kamiya sighed and shook her head, following her employee out the door, knowing this won't end well.

* * *

"Haruko?"

The bar was filled with garage rock music from some crappy band that had a gig that Friday. It was unbelievably loud and obnoxious (and bad), making it difficult to hear what the customers were saying.

Yet her voice was clear as day, making Haruko shut out any other noise around her. It's been so long since she's heard her voice.

"I… I didn't know you work here."

Everything Haruko tried so hard to forget and shut out was banging on the door of her mind, begging to let it back in.

* * *

"Ikeda-chan? What are you doing here on a Saturday..?"

"I took Maho's shift."

Silence. Kamiya sighed.

"You're being self-destructive, you know."

"…I know."

* * *

Haruko has worked three evenings in a row before, but that was during the summer when she had no university. Her exhaustion wasn't just physical, it was mental, too. Especially mental. Her manager told her she could take the Sunday off if she wanted to, but Haruko refused and dragged herself to the bar, even though she was on her last legs.

Kamiya was there as usual. Their manager insisted on working all weekend and having the weekdays off, seeing as the weekends were the busiest days, excluding Sunday. Haruko wondered if she sleeps in the bar.

She greeted her coworker who was just about to leave and put her things away in the break room. Kamiya was alone at the front of house when Haruko showed up, though it's not like she needed much help with customers anyway. She gave Haruko shifts on Sunday evenings just to help close up the bar quicker.

"Hey hey, how are you feeling?" Kamiya asked.

"Hey, I'm fine, how have… things been?"

Kamiya finished serving a customer and turned to her employee who was spacing out, eyes darting around the bar, clearly looking for someone.

"She's not here."

Haruko glanced over to her manager meeting her once again concerned face.

"Right… Sorry." she shook her head, trying to focus on working.

Trying to focus after such a horrible week (in more ways than one) was, to say the least, difficult. Every single time the door would open and a new customer would walk in, Haruko would nearly snap her own neck turning to see who walked in.

Finally, someone familiar walked in. Though they weren't the people Haruko expected to see.

"IKE-CHAAAN!"

Haruko watched Iwaizumi nearly drag his best friend to the two bar seats right in front of her as she was wiping a glass, both eyebrows raised in amusement at the two boys.

" _What_ are you doing here?" she wanted to follow up with an 'And who drinks on a Sunday?', but then remembered her own Sunday night outing. _Nevermind._

"Weeeeell," Oikawa began, putting his arms on the bar, "We were bored of our usual place, and then Iwa-chan remembered you work at The Old House, and now we're here!"

He was being incredibly cheerful; Haruko figured he had to be at least a little bit drunk to be this nice to her, considering all that happened.

"Okay," Iwaizumi said, "now here's my side of the story – we got _kicked out_ of our usual place, thanks to the idiot next to me, and then said idiot _whined_ for around twenty minutes that we go here because, and I quote, 'Ike-chan works there, we HAVE to go'."

Haruko chuckled as Oikawa complained about being called out. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed and they were back to how they were when they met. Things were so good back then.

"Ooh, who's this?" her manager asked.

"Oh, right, these are the guys from the volleyball club I told you about. Two of them at least – the glasses boy is Oikawa and that's Iwaizumi." she gestured at them respectively, "Guys, this is my manager, Kamiya."

Haruko served the two boys drinks, actually feeling happy to see them. Iwaizumi, at least. And to be fair, Oikawa was being a decent human being too, albeit probably only because he's tipsy, but she had no space in her head right now to start yet another argument with him, as long as he doesn't start shit either. She knew he won't – Iwaizumi was right there and surely he would scold the both of them for it.

Haruko eyed his forehead. The light was dim, but there was definitely still a mark there from the arcade incident. Never again.

As usual, Sunday was slow, so Haruko was spending most of her time chatting with the boys. Every so often a customer would come in and she would go away to serve them, and sometimes Kamiya would take over the conversation, _very obviously giving Iwaizumi sly looks, oh my god Kami-chan, not again._

The night was actually going well. And you know what that means - it all, of course, had to go to shit. Because apparently, that's how the world works.

Haruko was squatting down next to the mini-fridge behind the bar, putting some drinks away, her back turned to the two boys behind her.

"Hey, isn't that Karasuno's old manager?"

Haruko froze. She finally showed up, third day in a row. Shimizu Kiyoko.

"Oh shit, yeah. I remember I tried getting her number once, she completely ignored me…"

Haruko snorted. "Yeah, I bet she did."

Oikawa squinted at the sudden outburst from her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Haruko didn't spare either of them a single look, stood up and made her way to the middle of the bar where Kamiya was.

"Ikeda-chan, she's he-"

"I know."

Her manager looked back at the counter she was wiping. "Do you want me to..?"

"No. I got this."

Kamiya resisted her urge to shake her head. _You said that last time, too…_

Haruko took a deep breath.

"Oh, Iwaizumi-san, Oikawa-san. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

Before either of them could reply, Haruko did it for them.

"They're from my team. Hey again, Shimi-chan. What'll it be?"

"Hey… Um, two long islands, please." she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Focused on making the drinks for the woman in front of her, Haruko completely forgot about the two boys next to her.

"They… know each other?" Oikawa whispered to his friend, eyeing the girls.

Iwaizumi shrugged. "I guess so."

"So… your team? You joined the volleyball club?"

 _God, her voice is going to kill me._

"Yup. I'm their manager."

Haruko made the mistake of looking up. Kiyoko was smiling.

"I'm… glad to see you're doing well."

Haruko's face dropped at the drinks she just finished making, and before handing them over, she realized she can't deal with this any longer. Kiyoko has been coming here for days. Not knowing why was killing her. Haruko snapped.

"Why… do you keep coming here?"

She knew asking that was bound to be a mistake, but the flicker of hope that Kiyoko maybe, just _maybe_ was here to see her was overpowering everything else.

But Kiyoko's smile disappeared immediately, replaced with a small sigh no one could hear. Haruko wasn't even looking at her. Kiyoko put one hand behind her neck, trying to figure out how to put this… lightly.

"Haruko,"

The girl nearly exploded at the sound of her name coming from Kiyoko. So did Oikawa and Iwaizumi who were trying their best to hide the fact that they were eavesdropping the entire time. "They're on a first name basis..?" Oikawa whispered.

"I'm sorry." she continued, "I honestly didn't know you work here. It's just that… my girlfriend really likes it here…"

Haruko's heart dropped, her grip tightening on the drinks she just made.

She couldn't look up at her. "Right. Sorry."

She lifted the two drinks and placed them on the bar, trying her best not to shake. Kiyoko took them in her hands, trying to find something she could say. But nothing came out, and after mumbling a small 'mm' she left.

Oikawa watched the girl walk away, trying to process just what all of that was about. He squinted at Kiyoko's retreating figure, and then turned back to Haruko to ask exactly that.

Instead he was met with a sight that made his words get stuck in his throat.

The girl he thought was completely indestructible… was falling apart right in front of him.

Her back turned to the bar counter, she was gripping the edge of the shelf below with all her might, clearly fighting tears back.

Oikawa's eyes widened. He shot back to the spot where he saw Kiyoko last, although the woman was long gone. Then shot back at Haruko.

"…Oh."

Iwaizumi was also slowly coming to the same conclusion, although before either of them could think of anything to say, Kamiya swooped in and dragged Haruko away, leaving a very confused customer that she was serving behind.

As soon as they were far enough from everyone else, right at the edge of the bar, Kamiya spoke up.

"Break room. Now. All the way until closing time. Black coat, inside pocket."

Haruko, voice breaking, was about to protest. "But-"

"No buts. I'll call you if I need your help, you know it's been dead all evening. As for the other thing, you definitely need it more than me. Just make sure to turn the smoke detectors off. Now go."

Haruko nodded and was soon gone out of sight. Kamiya went back to the customer she left out of nowhere and apologized, and once she was done serving him she couldn't continue ignoring the piercing gazes from the two boys that were still at the bar, having their –nth drink.

"Don't look at me like that, it's not my story to tell."

"We… kind of started putting things together ourselves by now." Oikawa said. "At least give us the basics before we start assuming something we shouldn't assume."

"What do you mean we..? I'm not the one being all up in someone else's business." Iwa grumbled. Although if he was honest, he was curious too, but his curiosity came from being worried about their friend.

The bar manager rolled her eyes. They were Haruko's friends, after all, they might know how to help. She did talk about them a lot, _especially pretty boy over there._

"Alright, fine. But I only know the basics myself."

She made them two more drinks and leaned on the bar.

"Last Sunday that girl, Kiyoko, had apparently come in – I didn't even see her, I just saw Ikeda-chan freaking out and dragged her into the break room. She took the rest of the night off, and then Monday evening she messaged me asking to call her when I have a minute, so I did. She kept apologizing for leaving me to worry and disappearing like that, honestly that girl…" Kamiya shook her head, "Anyway, after that she gave me the shortest explanation she could give – that's her ex-girlfriend from high school, she thought she got over her, but when she saw her after so long… well, she realized she didn't. That's all I know."

After a moment Kamiya sighed.

"We're all bitter over someone. But Ikeda-chan… I think there's a lot more to the story. I've never seen her act like that."

The three were silent for a while, and soon after Kamiya went to serve a customer.

* * *

Oikawa stood outside at an alley behind the bar, trying to get some fresh air after having one drink too much. It was dark, it was cold, and it was raining. Kamiya let him out through the back door to get him out sooner, quote, 'before he throws up inside her establishment', but told him not to hang around back there – the only dim light source was from the bar windows, and people _have_ been mugged there. But Oikawa only needed a few minutes, so what's the worst that can happen?

He looked up at the rainy sky, thinking about the image he can't get out of his head. Haruko had been gone for about two hours now and the bar was going to close soon.

 _Just what happened between you and Shimizu?_

Oikawa wanted her to come back. Come back to the bar and come back to being herself. The way she was breaking down back there… he felt his own heart smash into pieces when he saw her like that.

All arguments aside, he was slowly admitting to himself that he admired her for how strong she was. This was a good reminder that she was also human – capable of making mistakes, and capable of getting hurt.

Just as he was about to go back, he heard footsteps on his right, where the back door was.

"Hey there…" he said, nervously. The dark figure was definitely a man, but he was unable to make the face out.

"Hey."

The dark figure had a knife out.

"Ah shit…" Oikawa muttered, taking a defensive stance. As defensive as he could, anyway – he wasn't the one with a goddamn knife. He couldn't even make a run for it because the man was standing right in front of the door and the alley had a dead end behind Oikawa.

"Give me everything you got and no one gets hurt."

"Dude, I left my wallet inside," Oikawa started, suddenly hyper-aware of the wallet in his back pocket, "I don't have anything on me."

"That's what they all say," the man growled, hand tightening around the knife, "but somehow I always find something on their dead bodies."

If Oikawa wasn't worried before, he definitely was now and his breaths became more erratic. He lifted his hands slowly, trying to find something to say and drag time out, to either figure out a plan or have someone see them.

The latter happened before he could say anything.

The back door swung open and both men shot their gazes at the girl who had just taken a step outside. In a split second Haruko's eyes met with Oikawa's and darted over to the man in front of her.

Oikawa took a step forward, using his mugger's distraction against him. Fueled by fear of both getting hurt _and_ seeing Haruko get hurt, he was ready to take his chances.

That, however, wasn't necessary and Oikawa stopped in his tracks. He had another image burned into his mind before he could act.

He watched Haruko grab the man's wrist, the one that had the knife, and take a swing at him with her other arm, with force he never knew the girl had. The man wasn't even given a time to react or groan – the moment Haruko's fist came in contact with his face, he fell to the ground, with the faint sound of the knife hitting the stone tiles surrounding him. He was out cold.

When Oikawa came back to his senses a few seconds later, he quickly walked over to the girl and stared at the man below them.

"…Holy fuck… How-"

"You saw nothing." she harshly cut him off. "And get back inside, this shit happens all the time back here, it's not safe."

Haruko turned around and went inside herself, and Oikawa followed her. He looked back at the man one last time before locking the back door, in complete disbelief that she was just going to… leave the guy there. His eyes shot back at the sharp sound of a door slam – Oikawa eyed the 'staff only' sign on it, faint smell of weed coming from that direction. He figured it's the break room, which she just went back into.

' _You saw nothing.'_

The moment Haruko swung at the man Oikawa had his eyes fixated on her own. Unlike him, it wasn't fear that drove her. It wasn't sadness, or frustration, or any emotion at all. It was nothing.

It looked like she had done that before. More than once.

 _Just what happened… to you?_

Oikawa calmed himself down and started walking back to his friend. He knew his curiosity would get the best of him eventually, but for now, he was going to quietly celebrate _being alive._

* * *

"You have a good night, see you soon!" Kamiya waved to the last customer leaving the bar – all except for Oikawa and Iwaizumi who were still in their original spot.

"Here, catch!" she threw a pair of keys at Iwaizumi, who swiftly caught them with his right hand, "Lock up the front door, will ya? You guys can stay for a while longer and keep us company; any friends of Ikeda's are friends of mine."

He nodded and went to lock the door as Kamiya brought a bar stool behind the bar, positioning it in front of where the boys were sitting and grabbed a drink for herself – it was her bar, after all.

"You look a little shaken up, pretty boy." she whispered while Iwaizumi was away. "Something happen back there?"

It's been about a half an hour since the back alley event, Oikawa had calmed down but clearly not enough for no one to notice. He shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Alright, thought you just don't wanna tell you friend, but it looks like you don't wanna tell anyone. Suit yourself." she took a sip from her beer bottle and smiled at Iwa who had just come back and given her the keys.

As Iwa sat back down on the bar stool, Oikawa noticed the woman quickly type something on her phone, and soon after, lo and behold, Haruko showed up. As soon as she lifted her head, she was met with three pairs of eyes, one staring at her a lot more than the other two. (It was Oikawa. Duh.)

"Aw what, Kami-chan, you said everyone's gone?" she asked, tiredly.

"Well yeah, except these two, the place is locked. Here, chill for a while." Kamiya stood up as she was talking, opened up a bottle of cider for her and slid it over the bar. As Haruko caught it, she continued, "I'm not ready to go home yet, it's only what, 11pm? We have the cleaners coming in tomorrow morning, so we don't have much to do for closing, anyway."

Haruko nodded, but slipped the bottle off the bar into her hand and left them behind, walking to the sofa at the corner of the venue to have her drink alone.

"She's working for the third evening in a row." Kamiya spoke up, noticing the two boys looking back at their friend, "Not only that, this weekend probably took a toll on her emotionally, too. I can't really blame her for not wanting to socialize much."

They nodded making a small 'mm' noise of approval. A few moment later, though, Iwaizumi spoke up.

"I really think you should go talk to her."

Oikawa was a little taken aback by his friend's sudden suggestion. "Me? Why?"

"I don't know about Kamiya-san, but to my knowledge… If anyone would know what to say, it would be you."

After a moment Oikawa sighed. He knew exactly what Iwaizumi was talking about.

"Hey…" Kamiya spoke up, leaning on the bar and resting her chin on one hand, "I don't know what tall, dark and handsome here is on about, but if there's anything you can tell Ikeda-chan that could help, please do."

 _Handsome?_ Iwaizumi smirked at the girl.

… _Tall?_ Oikawa squinted.

"I'll even think about accidentally losing the records of your bar tab if it works." she said, smiling and taking out a few bottles from the fridge, handing them to Oikawa.

He looked back at Haruko who had just finished her own drink and plopped it on the table in front of the sofa. At least one part of her usual self was visible – she had stretched out on the sofa, her legs dangling over the right edge of it.

He owed her one, didn't he?

Oikawa groaned and took the two bottles Kamiya left on the bar in front of him.

* * *

Haruko had her eyes closed, still slightly high from smoking in the break room, focusing on the faint music coming from the bar's speakers. She wondered when her manager will finally invest in new speakers, their current ones were absolutely awful.

She gasped and shot her eyes open at the sudden feeling of someone lifting her legs up. The culprit, Oikawa, slid under her legs and sat down on the sofa, then put them back down on his lap.

Just like they used to sit together before everything went to shit.

He didn't say anything and simply gave her one of the bottles he had with him. Haruko whispered a small 'thank you', then they put their bottles together making them do a little 'clang' sound, and sat in silence for a while.

"So…" Oikawa eventually began, "You… and Shimizu, huh?"

Haruko sighed, irritated. "Look, Oikawa, if you're here to tease, or mock me about it-"

"I'm not." he interrupted. Haruko looked at him, realizing she's never seen his face be _that_ sincere, ever. "Iwa-chan… thinks I might be able to help. Or if anything, relate, I guess."

Haruko snorted, "I really doubt you'd ever relate to the shit I've went through."

She wasn't sure if it was the weed residue, or the alcohol, but she had a nagging need to over-share.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But like Kamiya-chan said, we're all bitter over someone."

Haruko was silent, not knowing what to say. She sat up to have a sip of her drink, her legs still over Oikawa's lap, but his face much closer to her own now. She sat there looking down at the bottle she hand in her hands, sitting in between her legs.

"What… happened?"

With that, Haruko decided to let go, just for today.

She took a deep breath.

"When I was in my second year of high school, Kiyoko started attending Karasuno as a first year. The moment I laid my eyes on her… I couldn't get her out of my head. I went out of my way to become friends with her, and when I found out she's into girls, I asked her out the same day. To my surprise, she said yes. The problem was that I didn't know what I was getting myself into…"

Haruko shuffled around a bit getting herself comfortable and took another sip from her bottle.

"Kiyoko isn't just a pretty face. It's a bonus, yeah, but the longer we dated the more in love I fell. She's… amazing. She's caring, she's hardworking, she's passionate about everything she does, yet she's modest and gentle, and… Honestly, I could go on and on about her. She's perfect. She… made me happy."

Oikawa listened without interruption, worried about the lack of the word 'was'.

"And I guess as a teenager, completely head over heels for her, I didn't notice that things weren't as great as they seemed. About a year and a half in, I began noticing that something wasn't right. I noticed it too late, and one day she asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. Back then, I was happy to be going out with my girlfriend for a walk. Today, though, I realize that it was one of those 'walks' farmers take their old, sick dogs on before they take them to the shed and… well…"

"It was a quiet winter evening, probably one of the nicest winter evenings I can remember." Haruko chuckled, "She… broke up with me. That's pretty much it. It wasn't and ugly break-up or anything. She was being her usual self – kind and caring. She tried her best to make sure that I would take it well, which is exactly what killed me inside, and which is what she failed to do. She… tried to protect me by not telling me _why_ she's breaking up with me."

She sat there for a moment, trying to gather her messy thoughts, though Oikawa didn't even dare to move a muscle, let alone rush her.

"To this day… I don't know what I did to make her break up with me. Or what I didn't do. Or if there was a part of me that was the deal-breaker. To this day, I don't know what's wrong with me. So… naturally, I assume it's everything. And that was my downfall."

She took another sip from her bottle and sat down normally, resting her legs at the edge of the table in front. Haruko didn't say anything else, indicating that's the end of the story.

But Oikawa knew better.

"There's more to it, isn't there?"

He watched her exhale slowly, put her bottle down on the table and lean back. She turned her head to him, making their gazes meet.

"Oikawa… I can't-…"

She trailed off getting lost in his eyes. They were different. They were completely different from the ones she would usually see, the ones she didn't trust.

She looked away and focused on her own knees.

 _Just for today._

"If I tell you, you have to promise me to take this to your grave."

"I promise."

"No, I _mean_ it." she said, looking at him sharply. "And also… I think I need something stronger before I go down that road."

Oikawa didn't say anything. He just nodded and went to ask Kamiya for drinks. Haruko looked over to the two of her friends they had left behind – they were hitting it off, although that was mostly thanks to Kamiya's flirting.

Soon after Oikawa came back with a tray of shots. A _tray_.

"I… I meant one."

"Tell that to your manager, she insisted." he chuckled, sitting down on the sofa again. He took two shots from the tray and handed one to Haruko, who downed it without a flinch.

"Okay…" she exhaled, "So… After Kiyoko broke up with me, I was a mess. And that's putting it lightly. I… did a lot of stupid things as time went by. She broke me into pieces and I did everything I could to put myself back. I was drinking, I was smoking pot with college students, I… slept with some of them."

Haruko stopped, took a deep breath and grabbed another shot from the tray. After slamming the empty shot glass down on the table, she corrected herself.

"I slept with a lot of them. A lot of people in general. I didn't care who it was, guys, girls, anyone, I just… wanted to feel needed again. For any reason at all. Kiyoko made me feel so loved when she was with me, that, when she was gone, I felt completely lost and alone."

Oikawa shut his eyes spewing curse words at himself in his head, remembering their big argument. Knowing this he really wished he hadn't said some things.

"Hey." she said, grabbing his attention, "I know what you're thinking, stop it. You… didn't know."

He parted his lips wanting to say something, but went against it, wanting her to continue.

"So… Because I kept going to college parties, getting high and drunk instead of studying, and began skipping classes… I got left back on my third year. Which meant spending another year around Kiyoko. My parents were furious – they didn't know about me an her, only my sister did, she was a lot more accepting than they were, so to them this was completely out of nowhere. They thought I was 'going through a phase' or some shit. Thankfully we didn't end up in the same class; I would have honestly lost my mind, more than I already had at that point, anyway."

"I continued skipping classes for a while, and kept doing what I was doing, hooking up with random people, partying and so on. In one of those parties, I… met Terushima. You know him, don't you?"

Oikawa nodded.

"A lot of people… have a bad impression of him. What he went through before me is his own story to tell. But, even though we hit it off immediately, we didn't hook up. Well… I admit I slept with him once, but things got a little weird between us after that so we called it quits on that pretty much the next day. He's a good friend; we didn't let that come between us, though he still teases me about it to this day."

Oikawa sat there trying to fight the fact that he was… a little jealous.

"So, one day towards the end of the second semester I was having an extra bad day. I kept seeing Kiyoko all day, despite being able to avoid her most days, and my self-loathing was through the roof. I texted Teru jokingly telling him I wanna go on a road trip and just disappear for a while. To my surprise, he told me he might be able to organize that. Teru was going through some shit at that point too, thankfully he's okay nowadays, but back then he was just as reckless as I was, so we looked after each other. We… tried to, anyway…"

Haruko stopped and let out a sigh, more of a groan really, and reached for another shot. Oikawa noticed her hand was shaking.

"This… this is where I stop, Oikawa. As much as my drunk slash high self wants to trust you, I really can't. And… I don't think I'm ready to re-visit that road, cause… I almost died that night. And," she continued after a pause with a shaky breath, "I saw someone else die moments later."

"Maybe someday I'll be able to tell you, but basically, I did a lot of stupid things after Kiyoko broke up with me. After we came back from that 'road trip', Teru and I didn't talk much. It messed us both up, _bad_. I decided I can't stay in high school any longer, I can't stay around Kiyoko, and I started studying again. The moment I graduated, though with barely passing grades, I picked the university farthest from Karasuno and moved out. I wasn't ready to move to a new city, but I had to move out of my parents' house at least. That's how I ended up here."

"Not seeing Kiyoko every goddamn day was doing miracles. For months I actually thought I was going to be okay. I was beginning to forget about her. Then, last week, for the first time in months… I saw her here and realized I hadn't forgotten anything. And guess what, I'm going to sound like a complete idiot now," Haruko continued with a sad smile, "cause a part of me actually thought she could be here for _me._ "

"The night I saw her I completely freaked out and my automatic defense mechanism was to call Teru and hang out with him. Even if we hadn't spoken in ages, nothing had changed. That night helped me reset my brain a bit, and, I'll be honest the fight you and I had actually kept my mind off this too." she chuckled.

"But... then I saw her again on Friday and decided to confront her thinking everything will be fine. I'm a whole new person, right?" she smiled and gently shook her head, "The moment I heard her talk, I was back at square one. All the stupid shit I've done was suddenly replaced by her voice, her face, just… _her_. And of course, my hopes that she was here to see me were going through the roof. Talking to her hurt like hell, because I felt like I was getting lost in her again. But I went out of my way to talk to her every chance I could get. She's… like a drug to me."

Haruko crossed her legs on the sofa and stared at the ground, feeling the lump in her throat get bigger as she went on.

"Fast forward to today, and, well, you saw what happened. She was here because her girlfriend is apparently a fan of The Old House." Haruko rested her elbow on one of her knees and sunk her forehead into her hand. She started silently laughing through tears. "Can you believe-.. How stupid and naïve I am to even think… she was here for me, oh my fucking god-ahahaha..."

Oikawa didn't interrupt. He knew that feeling. He knew she needs a moment to calm down and let her laugh and cry herself out. A minute later she sniffled and collected herself, leaning back on the sofa once again.

"You know what the worst thing is about being naïve? It's hitting the ground harder than anyone else would when things don't work out, because your head was in the clouds and you were floating on false hope the entire time."

The shots were kicking in slowly but surely, and as sad as that was, they helped Haruko calm down and bring her breathing back to normal. The two sat in silence for a while, and soon she felt Oikawa lean back onto the sofa too. She looked at him – his eyes were focused on the ceiling.

Finally, he spoke up.

"When… When I was in my third year of high school, I was dating this girl named Mao. She was in my class, one day we started talking, and eventually dating. And, just like you, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. At first, it started out like a simple high school fling, one of those that don't usually last, but just a few months in I was head over heels for her. We dated for just about a half of a year before she broke up with me. She said… I was too obsessed with volleyball."

"Well, that's a fucking lie."

Oikawa turned his head to the girl and gave her a questioning look.

"No offense dude, but you being obsessed with volleyball isn't really a secret? Didn't she know that comes with the package before you started dating..?" she pondered.

"She did." Oikawa said, focusing back on the ceiling, "That's why I never really believed her. Literally, two days later I found out she was cheating on me, and on top of that, apparently, most of my classmates knew. So not only did I lose the girl of my dreams, I was also betrayed by a lot of people I knew, all in the same week."

He sighed heavily before continuing.

"I asked Iwa-chan to tell the coach I sprained my ankle and I shut myself inside my house, mostly my room, really, for around a week. I told him what happened and he kept coming over, trying to make me go outside or at least get out of bed, but I was way too depressed to do anything. I would just… sleep on most days, for as long as I could, just so I wouldn't have to exist. That girl broke me. In more ways than one."

To Haruko's surprise, she saw his lips curl upwards.

"So, one day, Iwa-chan comes over yet again, I'm lying there in my sweatpants, he stops next to the bed and looks down at me and just goes… 'get up, I'm taking you on a date'. And I'm like… 'what?'."

Haruko couldn't help but chuckle, "You're joking?"

"No!" he shook his head, glancing at her, "I'm completely serious, and to my surprise, so was he. Iwa-chan repeated himself and I sat up, raising my eyebrow at him, and I'm like, fine, alright, he's probably gonna chicken out the moment I agree. This is just some poor stunt to get me out of the house. So, being in a state of 'I literally do not give a fuck anymore', I said sure, let's go."

"What happened after that was… honestly, the best week of my life. He actually went on several dates with me. Like, with hand-holding and everything, it was surreal. First time he insisted on holding my hand I literally started laughing, but he was dead serious. He got me out of the house. He took me to so many places I loved. He _made me_ have a good time. He even won me a shitty stuffed toy at a fair we went to, which - and I swear if you tell anyone, I'm going to kill you – which I still have today. I kept it. As a reminder."

Haruko was getting lost in his story, how fondly he spoke of his best friend, and noticed his face take a more serious appearance again.

"The thing is, unlike you and me… Iwa-chan is the straightest person I know."

The two glanced over to Iwaizumi and Kamiya at the same time – it was painfully obvious the two were flirting.

"And at the end of the week," Oikawa continued, leaning back once again, "I was finally coming to a realization. He went out of his way to cheer me up. Seeing how far he was willing to go, just because he cares and wants to see me happy, was a good enough slap in the face that brought me back to reality."

"Iwa-chan quickly caught on when I went super quiet. We were out that evening, he was walking me home. I turned to him and I was met with an 'are you _done_?' face and… well, I couldn't help but start laughing and frantically nodding." he smiled, "That moment he said something I had honestly missed hearing – he practically yelled out 'thank fuck', followed by 'how can anyone date you for more than two days' – and that threw me into an even bigger laughing fit, I swear, I was literally holding a sign post so I wouldn't fall down…" he said giggling.

"Now thaaaat's the Iwaizumi I know." Haruko chuckled.

Oikawa sat up normally and reached for the two last shots they had in the tray in front of them. He handed one to Haruko.

"I know that I can't compare to what you went through, especially when I don't even know the half of it, but my point is that… _a lot of the time we become too focused on the people we've lost and forget about the people we still have in our lives._ "

He brought his shot glass to hers and made them do a little 'clink' before downing it.

Haruko, though, was too lost in his words to react – she was staring down at the tiny glass in her hand, thinking them over. After a while, Oikawa snapped her out of it.

"You okay?"

"Huh?" she lifted her head and was met with Oikawa raising his eyebrow, smiling, "Oh, yeah, right."

She blinked and downed the shot as if it was water, then put it on the table. Part of her wanted to recover from their heavy conversation, and part of her was really, really enjoying talking to someone like this. This time, being back at square one was a good thing – they were talking to each other again as if they had known each other for years.

It was time to fix things.

"God, I am so sorry…" she breathed, shaking her head.

Oikawa was taken aback a bit, "What- for what?"

"For what I did, Oikawa. I was an asshole, I was judgmental, and selfish, and so on, I am really sorry. And I'm being honest now – I really did drop all my shitty plans like two days after I actually met you. You're… you're a really good person." the alcohol was really kicking in at this point, so it was a lot easier to say these things than it usually would be, "And you really didn't deserve all the shit I gave you. I really missed talking to you, man."

Oikawa's face softened and he finally let go of the breath he was holding while she was talking. It was his turn now.

"I'm sorry too, Ike-chan… This whole thing blew up to be a lot worse than it could have been if I would have just confronted you instead of being an ass… I missed talking to you, too. And I'm sorry about a lot of things I said…"

He trailed off, looking at the ground, and this was the first time Haruko saw him feeling genuinely guilty.

"Truce?" she said, smiling at him.

He lifted his head and looked at her. Until then Oikawa didn't realize how much he missed seeing her smile and couldn't help but smile himself.

He tucked one leg under another and sat down facing her, then stretched out his arms to the sides, grinning.

"…No." Haruko chuckled, inching away from him.

He tilted his head and raised his eyebrows, still grinning.

"I'm _not_ hugging you."

"Come ooooon." Oikawa whined, slowly moving towards her.

"Nuh-uh, go away-!"

Her sentence was cut off and turned into erratic laughs instead as Oikawa used his leg to boost himself towards Haruko and bring her down into the sofa under him.

"Oomph-" she breathed between laughs and started slapping his back, "Get off meee! You're heavyyy!"

"No!" he said, laughing into her shoulder, "This is a re-initiation into being my friend. Suffer."

"O-i-ka-waaaaa!" she whined under him, trying to knee him in the stomach with her free leg.

"Ow, ow, alright, okay, okay-" he said, lifting himself up, thus ending his 're-initiation'. She sat up too, fixing her hair and grinning at him.

"God, I forgot how touchy-feely you are. Honestly-oh!" she gasped, pointing her finger upwards. "Oh my gosh!"

Oikawa questioningly blinked a few times.

"This song! This sooooong!" Okay, the drinks have fully kicked in for sure, "I, oh my gosh, I used to listen to this all the time when Kiyoko broke up with me ahah-.." she said through giggles.

Oikawa stared at her for a moment, then burst into laughing.

"Hey! You don't see me judging your taste in music!"

"Pff- okay, first of all, I actually love Fall Out Boy too, un-ironically! So that's not what I'm laughing about ahaha-" he said, barely putting his sentence together, "It's just- It's just that I used to listen to the _exact same song_ when my girlfriend broke up with me-ahaha!"

Haruko had a dumbfounded look on her face but soon burst into laughing herself, again. The laughing soon turned into a very crappy rendition of the lyrics they sang together.

As their singing went on, the music started getting louder and the two turned back at the bar where Kamiya was fiddling with their music player's volume, her and Iwaizumi smiling back at them. Haruko watched Kamiya take out a familiar remote and she frantically started waving 'no no no no' at her manager. "He doesn't know about the karao-"

"Oh my god you have karaoke!" Oikawa exclaimed as he saw the projector turn on, nearly falling off the sofa as he was getting up to go get microphones from Kamiya.

"Of course we do! It's a bar, we have karaoke, quiz night, everything! Tell your friends." Kamiya smirked, ready to enjoy the worst drunk karaoke she has ever witnessed.

"Nooooo-" Haruko whined as she followed him to the bar.

"Yeeeees!"

Oikawa shoved one of the microphones into her hand and grabbed her other one to drag her in front of the wall the projector was pointed at. Kamiya made sure to find a YouTube video of that song with lyrics and put it on for them.

"I don't know what your friend told Ikeda-chan…" she whispered to Iwaizumi, "But whatever it was, I'm glad he did."

Iwaizumi nodded and smiled at the two idiots singing their hearts out.

* * *

 _Anything you say can and will be held against you -  
So only say my name,  
It will be held against you.  
Anything you say can and will be held against you -  
So only say my naaaame._

* * *

Haruko was a little shy for the first, maybe, three words. After that, the two of them let all hell loose and nearly yelled the lyrics on the top of their lungs, throwing in some dance moves into the mix. They danced on their own, together, and sometimes one of them would have to hold the other person up. Mostly it was Oikawa holding Haruko up – the girl was terrible at handling her alcohol. Whatever they did, though, was followed by smiles, laughs, and really terrible singing.

Soon, the song that used to bring them both down, became a song that would remind them of having the time of their lives in a bar after hours.

* * *

 _I want to teach you a lesson!  
In the worst kind of way.  
Still, I'd trade all my tomorrows,  
For just one yesterday,  
For just one yesterday._

* * *

Their karaoke night didn't end after just one song, they took whatever terrible songs Kamiya threw at them and made them theirs. Eventually both of them ran out of breath and began losing their voices from all the singing. Or yelling. Mostly yelling.

"That was terrible!"

"Absolutely awful!"

Oikawa and Haruko turned back to Kamiya and Iwaizumi who were playfully booing them, and bowed while breathing heavily, making their _performance_ come to an end. They went over to the other two and gave their microphones back.

"Okay, we can stay a little longer but you guys have to help me close up."

A simple task of wiping tables off and putting chairs up on them and the bar was incredibly difficult after the amount of drinks they had. Eventually though, they finished, which they could have done sooner if it wasn't for Oikawa's constant 'hey wait I don't work here' complaining.

After a while they were all sitting on the one bar area they left open, hanging out, dim light surrounding them. It was around 2am.

Haruko was sitting on top of the bar, with Oikawa in front of her on a bar stool, casually resting his chin on her knee every so often. Iwa was next to him, and the manager, Kamiya, was behind the bar on her own stool – _someone_ had to be handing them drinks.

Some time later Iwaizumi left to the bathroom – the moment the door closed behind him Kamiya turned to Oikawa. "Hey, pretty boy."

He lazily turned his attention to her, getting used to the nickname. "Hmm?"

"How old is your friend?"

"Oh my god, Kami-chan…" Haruko breathed, knowing exactly where that's going.

"Eh? Nineteen, why?"

They watched Kamiya mentally count something in her head. She then nodded, reaching under the bar.

"Okay, great," Kamiya said, emerging from under the bar and slamming a bottle of vodka in front of them. "Here you go. Now scram." she added, sliding the bottle towards them and motioning her head towards the door.

Haruko groaned and chuckled at the same time, then slid off the bar top, grabbed the bottle and started heading towards the front door.

"Come on, Oikawa!"

"Wait, is she -hic- bribing us to leave?" he asked.

" _Now_ , dude." she said, motioning him to get up. He did so, still trying to process what is happening, and trying not to trip as he attempts to follow his friend. "I want to be out of here before Kami-chan gets physical – either with us or Iwa, and I'd rather it be Iwa." Haruko stated, holding a hand out for Oikawa to grab.

Holding onto each other they left the bar, only hearing Iwaizumi's faint voice of 'hey where are they goin-' behind them as the door closed. Snickering like children, they began going home together.

Oikawa wasn't going to let Haruko go home alone – despite the fact that she goes home at this hour all the time from work, and despite the fact that he was too drunk to protect her or even himself from any kind of threat. And considering that she packed quite a punch… she didn't exactly need protection.

If he was being honest, he just wanted to spend more time with her.

The cold air sobered them up just enough to be able to walk home without tripping every two steps, though the volume of their voices was still a little too loud. Besides that, the two were drinking vodka straight out of the bottle – Kamiya most likely gave them the bottle for Haruko to mix some drinks up, but neither of them cared much about that anymore.

What was supposed to be a fifteen minute walk home turned into a forty minute stroll, with them making a wrong turn _twice_ – and for once Oikawa wasn't the one to blame because he didn't even know where Haruko lived.

Chatting, drinking and laughing away, the two were finally on a street that led straight to Haruko's apartment complex.

"Hey, hey hey hey." she nudged Oikawa.

"Hmmm?"

She dramatically held her phone in the air and pressed 'Play' on the YouTube video she had found. The song they originally sang in the bar was blasting through her phone speakers, making it a little distorted, but enough to get a snort out of Oikawa and get them singing again.

Clinging to each other they wobbled towards her apartment complex singing their hearts out once again, earning a few 'hey, shut the fuck up, people are trying to sleep' from the neighbors, which they completely ignored.

"Awww that's your stop." Oikawa started, breathing heavily, looking at the building she lived in, "I already miss you Ike-chaaaan."

"What, no no no, you're coming with me. There's no way you're going home alone when you're this wasted, you can sleep on the couch." Haruko grabbed his wrist and dragged him along, "Come -hic- on."

Thankfully, Oikawa didn't protest, though the moment they walked out of the fresh air and into the apartment complex, they were met with the heating inside, and the alcohol kicked right back in - it was really hard to walk again. Dragging Oikawa along, as well as using him as support for standing, Haruko made her way towards the elevator, mumbling that there's no way they're taking the stairs.

The elevator made a 'ding!' and the door opened in front of them – Haruko, humming their song, dragged Oikawa in and pushed the button for the 8th floor, and held onto Oikawa who was leaning on the wall, both breathing heavily. She leaned her forehead on his shoulder, still humming the song.

The elevator was… really slow. And shaky.

Oikawa put his arm around her shoulder for support and leaned his head back on the wall, closing his eyes and listening to her soft humming.

Everything was spinning.

"Hey." she muttered.

He lazily opened his eyes and blinked a few times. Did he space out?

No, they were still in the same elevator, still going up.

He looked down to find Haruko looking at him from the corner of her eye, still resting her forehead on his shoulder and holding his wrist for support. "Don't- Don't close your eyes, it'll make it bad-der… Worse. I mean worse." she chuckled. The girl then pulled away slightly, though not enough for Oikawa to let go – his hand was still wrapped around her shoulders.

He couldn't take his eyes off her.

Haruko lifted both her hands to his face and took his glasses off.

"You don't need these if you're just gonna have you eyes closed." she teased, putting them on, "They look better on me anyway."

Oikawa stood with his lips parted slightly, starting to realize just how close she is.

And... starting to realize that he had nothing left to hate her for.

 _Why do I always want to do something stupid when I'm around you?_

The song she was humming just a little while ago was stuck in his head.

He was… gone.

He started whispering the song as he moved his hands up to her face.

" _Anything you say can and will be held against you…_ "

He slowly took the glasses off her and held them behind her head, pulling her close enough to feel her breath on his lips. He didn't take his eyes off her own the entire time, not even for a second.

Haruko was getting lost in those eyes. They were curious, they were lost, they were… needy.

" _So only say my name, it will be held against you…_ "

She could have said anything. She could have pulled away. She could have done anything that wasn't what she did.

"Oikaw-"

He didn't wait. The moment he heard the first syllable of his name he pulled her in and closed the gap between them, making their lips meet.

* * *

Haruko woke up really early in the morning, shivering. She had no idea what could have gone on in that tiny brain of hers to think it's a good idea to sleep with nothing but her underwear when it's so cold – she reasoned she was probably drunk and warm when she went to bed, and her drunk self is not to be trusted in good decision making.

She was lying on her side, eyes half shut, her hand scurrying around the floor, looking for her phone. Once she finally found it she unlocked it, regretting the action immediately as she hadn't turned the brightness down the night before – staring at _the sun itself_ was not the first thing she wanted to do when she woke up. Slowly, Haruko's eyes adjusted to the brightness, and, still squinting, she made out the time on her phone – it was 7am. Her alarm was set for an hour later, which is when she should be getting up to get ready for university.

Well, there was no way she was going to get any sleep when she was freezing, so if she wanted to get another hour of sleep, she was going to have to get up and find some clothes.

That was a difficult task. Baby steps – she sat up first, groaning.

 _I really need to stop drinking on Sundays._

Before Haruko could continue on her journey of getting some warm clothes, her attention was caught by something shuffling next to her.

Or, rather, someone.

Her eyes darted immediately at the direction the sudden movement came from.

"OH SHI-"

She slammed her own hand over her mouth.

Wide-eyed, Haruko watched the person next to her shuffle slightly and continue sleeping.

Oikawa Tooru was in her bed.

* * *

 **AN:** This chapter is about 4.5x longer than usual. I'm… I'm great at rationing my chapters, really. But in all honesty, I don't think I could have split this one. I'm really happy with how it came out. I even decided to change the summary to have a quote from this chapter.

Anyway it's NSFW time B) we need a flashback to what happened, now, don't we?

Also it's kinda hard to headcanon Iwa as a straight boi? But I realized I accidentally made at least 3 characters bi (Haruko, Oiks and Teru definitely) so I had to ration it out _somehow_ lmao I'm sorry everyone is cute help me...

Also x2 growing up just means you get to experience all your teenage interests with less internalized shame! This includes fanfiction and fall out boy. Just One Yesterday is a _good song_.

I'll see you all in hell, lads.

(Also x3: 100 kudos on ao3? And almost 40 reviews on ff net? Oh gosh? I've read such good fanfics and really thought mine is less than mediocre and you guys are really making me feel better about it I love you all, I'm really driven to take this all the way! We're only about halfway in actually.)


	15. Chapter 15

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 15**

 _Chapter note: sexual content. Work is rated M from this point on!_

* * *

Haruko slowly lowered her palm from her face, still staring at Oikawa. He was fast asleep _and_ he had no shirt on. The girl sunk her head into her hands, mentally cursing herself.

 _Oh god, I need to get out of here before he wakes up._

Banking on the possibility that he won't remember what happened last night, she tried getting up from her bed as quietly as she could. Her entire body felt like it had dry throat, but Haruko tried to ignore the hangover as much as she could – right now she didn't have the time for a full hangover experience.

The girl turned around one last time before she went downstairs. Oikawa looked really peaceful when he was sleeping.

Haruko shook her head and started going downstairs. Any pleasant thought was overpowered by panicking about what to do when they see each other at university. If he remembers, that is.

Considering what Oikawa looks like every day, he probably gets up really early to get ready, which meant his alarm was going to go off any second - Haruko prayed that it won't until she leaves.

 _I feel like a criminal in my own apartment, ugh._

She did the essential get-ready things, threw on the first outfit she could find and left, deciding to do her makeup in the coffee shop near the university. The moment she took her keys in her hand, she realized there was a problem – she couldn't just lock him in.

Haruko went back inside and hurriedly scribbled on a sticky-note, stuck it on the door and left her keys in the keyhole, hoping no one will waltz into her apartment in between her leaving and Oikawa waking up.

She hurriedly made her way out of her apartment complex. It was windy, so the girl had to hold her scarf the entire way. She couldn't even take her bike – the keys from her bike lock were on the keychain with the rest of her keys back in the apartment.

 _Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold…_

The coffee shop had just opened to the public, making Haruko and a few other people be the first customers to show up. She placed her order and impatiently waited for it on the other end of the counter, tapping her foot.

Haruko had about two hours to waste until her morning class and yet she was restless. She sat down by the window and tried to force herself to take her time with the coffee in her hands. She took her phone out a few minutes later, heart racing as she unlocked it, but there was nothing there. No messages, no notifications, nothing. Not knowing if Oikawa was still in her apartment was killing her. Was he even awake at this point? Did he remember? What's he thinking right now?

She leaned her head against the wall. Haruko had occupied a cozy windowsill seat and wasn't about to let anyone move her for the next two hours. She needed to collect her thoughts. About a lot of things, but mostly about last night.

* * *

 _2:53am._

'Ding!'

The two slowly opened their eyes at the same time, unable to say anything. He felt Haruko's face slipping away from his hands, though she gently took one of them and led him out of the elevator – to no one's surprise, Oikawa didn't resist. He felt as light as a feather. Everything was still spinning.

You'd think he would have an infinite amount of thoughts running through his head, but his mind was completely blank. All he could do is focus on the girl in front of him, unlocking the door to her apartment, unable to take his eyes off her.

Finally, a single thought went through his mind.

 _You kissed me back._

She led Oikawa in, both still in silence, and went behind him to lock the door. That gave him a moment to take in the surroundings – he was in a small apartment, there was a sofa and an entrance to what seemed to be a tiny kitchen on his right, as well as some stairs leading up to an indoor-balcony type of room. There was a desk underneath it.

The click behind him caught his attention and he turned around to meet Haruko's gaze again. In the dim light, he could see her part her lips to say something, but she stopped, looking away. She put the keys on some storage boxes stacked on top of each other next to the door.

By the time she reacted to Oikawa's movements, he was already in front of her. One hand gripping her hip, one on her cheek, he smashed his lips against hers again, pushing her against the door behind her. Haruko let out a small moan at the sudden action, making him pull back slightly. Was he being too forward? Too rough? Did he make a mistake? Was all this a mistake and-

The feeling of Haruko's arms around his neck cut off his thoughts.

"You're overthinking again, aren't you?"

He let out the breath he didn't even notice he was holding and pressed his lips against hers again, gentler this time. Though, once Oikawa felt her hand run through his hair, pulling him in closer, the kissing got rougher. He leaned his knee at the door between her legs, effectively pressing her to the door even more. The moment she slipped her tongue in, he was sure this was mutual.

It was also a huge mistake, probably, but at least it was a _mutual_ huge mistake.

Something about playing with fire turned them both on.

Heavy breathing, soft moans and the smell of alcohol filled the apartment. Oikawa's hand ran down her butt to her thigh and he lifted her leg to his side in one rough motion, bringing her even closer to him. Haruko let out another moan and bit his lower lip.

As much as Haruko didn't want to admit, he was an amazing kisser. Not like she would tell him that anyway. Not directly, at least – her reactions were probably giving it away, but it was nearly impossible not to drown in his arms at this point. Her tongue piercing was adding something different to the mix, too.

"You were going to say something before…" Oikawa said between kisses.

"It's… nothing." she pulled back slightly, looking away.

Oikawa stopped for a moment and leaned his forehead against hers, looking into her eyes while she refused to look at him. Was she… was she actually flustered?

He smirked. This was too good.

He brought his hand under her chin and pulled her into a gentle kiss, before tightening his grip on her leg and jaw, surprising her. Haruko let out a small gasp and her eyes shot open to meet his dangerous ones.

"I'll get it out of you one way or another, you know."

He slightly yanked her head upwards, carefully enough not to hurt her, and bit into her neck. Hearing her let out a satisfied groan confirmed his suspicions. She felt him smirk on her skin.

"Tell me."

Oikawa being so observant was both a blessing and a curse. He was extremely quick to figure out that she liked things to be on the rougher side – what he was doing felt amazing, but it was also stripping her of her defenses.

Not hearing an answer, he bit her again and tightened his grip on her thigh – hearing her moan was like music to his ears. Oikawa said another muffled 'tell me', but in reality, he didn't even care what she was going to say before, it was just fun playing with her like this. Hearing her moan and groan because of what _he_ was doing was beyond satisfying. He was getting… addicted to it.

Haruko felt him kiss the bite, but the gentle feeling was soon replaced with another bite, making her groan again.

"Mmm?"

"Ngh… It's really nothing…"

She felt his teeth sink into her skin a bit more – it was painful, but it was driving her crazy at the same time. That, and his husky voice.

"Gah… I'm not gonna-argh!"

Haruko was cut off – he sunk his teeth in even more. He wasn't buying it.

"Alright, alright, fine!" she felt him loosen his jaw a little, though not enough to let go of her neck completely. "It's just… I was trying to think of a way to… um…"

She trailed off, so Oikawa _rewarded_ her for that by biting her harder again. With that, Haruko gave in.

"Ngh! Of a way to invite you upstairs!"

Satisfied with both his work and her answer, Oikawa finally released his grip on her. He put his arm above her, smirking at her.

"I hate you." Haruko murmured, looking to the side.

"Sure you do."

He kissed her again and after a moment whispered. "I'd… I'd carry you upstairs, but in the state I'm in I'm pretty sure I'd fall and get us both hurt…"

Haruko chuckled and pulled away, taking his hand.

Oikawa moved away and let her lead him up the stairs. The single glance she gave him while ascending sent him into overdrive. He wanted more – more of her voice, more of her skin, more of _her_.

The moment they appeared upstairs Oikawa noticed the floor-mattress, which he assumed was her bed. Any other day he would question why on earth does she sleep on the floor.

Facing backwards to it, he grabbed Haruko's wrist and hip, then pulled her down with him, making her straddle his lap, facing him. He started kissing her neck, being careful around the marks he left earlier, which were now a bit more visible thanks to the nearby fairy lights.

She felt his cold hands run under her shirt and jumped slightly, making Oikawa smile into her neck and mutter a small 'sorry'. Soon both her shirt and the hoodie she had on top it were off, carelessly thrown somewhere onto the ground, leaving her in her bra. Not for long, of course – with one quick, skilled motion Oikawa unclipped the back and threw it somewhere with the rest of her clothes.

Haruko, not about to be defeated, pushed him back slightly and did the same to his jacket and shirt, and a moment later Oikawa wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close and nuzzling her neck as she ran her hand through his hair. Her bare skin on his chest was bringing him back to reality, making a single rational thought cross his mind.

"What happens after this?"

"I… don't know? But we can keep going and find out…" Haruko said suggestively.

"No, Ike-chan, I mean… like, tomorrow." His words were still slow and jumbled thanks the alcohol in his system. "What happens tomorrow?"

Haruko paused. "Isn't it a bit too late to worry about that?"

Not hearing an answer from Oikawa she pulled away slightly and put her hand on his cheek, making him get lost in her eyes again. "Hey. Tomorrow's tomorrow and that's when we can figure it out. For now… live a little."

Any rational part of him was gone once again. He became hyperaware of the fact that she's right there, sitting on top of his lap, _half-naked_.

 _Why do I always do something stupid when I'm around you…_

Half-naked wasn't enough. He left a long kiss on her neck before giving into the fact that, at this point, there was no going back.

Before giving into the fact that he _didn't want_ to go back.

Haruko felt one of his hands go down to her butt, one still around her waist, and with one quick motion he got her off of himself and flipped her onto the bed, hovering above her. The yelp Haruko let out from the surprise was cut off by him smashing his lips into hers again. He held her wrists above her head and Haruko felt his grip tighten as the kissing got rougher. Those kisses were needy, they were from someone who was completely taken over by lust – for a second Haruko wondered just how long he was holding himself back from all of this.

She felt him pull away and move down, letting go of her wrists. His cold hands ran down her sides making her shiver slightly, but the warmth of his breath and lips soon replaced the cold feeling as he kissed the top of her breast. He shuffled slightly shifting his weight and went down a bit more, giving one of her nipples a long lick before sucking on it, earning a few small moans from her. Haruko noted how ridiculous his upper body strength was – while one of his hands was playing with her other breast, his other hand was already making its way down to unbutton her pants.

She ran her hand through his soft hair once again, and when she felt him pull away from her chest, she unwillingly tugged him back down slightly, as if asking not to stop. Oikawa locked his eyes with her own, took her hand and planted a kiss on her palm.

The look he had in his eyes… it was the look of someone who was completely _gone_.

He let go a moment after and went back to what he was doing, though he didn't take his eyes off Haruko's the entire time. He slid her pants off and threw them somewhere among the other clothes, leaving her in just her underwear.

He went back down, still keeping eye contact with her and placed both of his hands on her sides. She felt his hot breath around the hem of her underwear as he tugged on it with his teeth.

And there it was. The image Haruko knew she would never get out of her head. The image she couldn't help but stare at with her lips parted.

Oikawa, shirtless, pulling her underwear down to her knees with his teeth while not taking a single glance off her eyes.

Even in bed, he was a crowd-pleaser. _Straight out of a playgirl magazine_.

Haruko snapped out of it when he ducked down and trapped himself between her naked self and her underwear, putting her legs over his shoulders. She couldn't help but blush realizing just how close he is, but the last thing she wanted at this moment was for him to stop. And Oikawa knew that.

He kissed her inner thigh while holding them both with his hands and started trailing down to her core.

"Ngh… Stop teasin-" Haruko inhaled sharply and arched her head back when he ran his tongue through her folds – slowly and teasingly, earning a slight moan from her. After a few seconds, when she realized nothing is happening, she opened her eyes and lifted her head, only to see Oikawa leaning his cheek on her thigh, smirking at her.

"…What?" she questioned.

"Nothing… I just never thought I'd get to see you like this."

His smirk widened when he was how flustered that got her – Haruko was glad the fairy lights were so dim, seeing as she was blushing like mad. Not only was he _right between her legs_ , he had to call her out on it, too?

"Oh shut up…" she murmured, looking away. Just this once, she was going to let him win. Well, in this case, she wanted him to win.

Without a word or a warning he dove back down and continued eating her out, earning a few more moans from her. His tongue paired with the feeling of his hands caressing her thighs were already too much to handle, and the moment she thought she was getting used to the pleasure, he started sucking on her clit, sending her into overdrive.

Haruko gripped the bedsheets as well as his hair with her other hand and her moans got louder as he went on. And while Oikawa was satisfied seeing her squirming under him because of what _he_ was doing, he was never satisfied _enough._

When he slid a finger inside her while still eating her out, the pleasure became almost too much. Oikawa had to use his free hand to hold the girl down, though that only made him more satisfied with himself. She was a moaning, trembling mess, and he knew he would never let go of the few times he heard her say his name.

He felt Haruko grip his hair tighter, and while it stung a little, he didn't mind. Her breathing became uneven as well, Oikawa knew she was close.

"I'm-.. ngh.."

 _I know._

The last thing he wanted to do now was to stop to answer her. He picked up the pace instead, his finger curling inside her and his tongue playing with her clit were sending her over the edge. And soon enough they did.

Haruko let out a sharp gasp followed by something that was either a moan, swearing, his name, or all of the above. Her grip on Oikawa's hair loosened and he was given the opportunity to watch the girl in front of him drown in the orgasm he gave her.

With her eyes still closed, Haruko felt him shuffle over and plop down next to her. As his arm wrapped around her, her heavy breathing slowly started going back to normal.

"Just… give me… a minute…" she breathed.

Though the minute turned into two, the two minutes turned to ten, and the ten minutes soon turned into several hours as both of them dozed off.

* * *

 _9.24am_

Haruko made her way through the campus, hoping she won't run into anyone, a least for the time being. That would prove to be inevitable at the end of the day, she had to be at volleyball practice after all, and part of her was hoping that Oikawa was too hungover to attend today.

 _Right, like anything ever stopped him from going to practice…_

As soon as she walked into the lecture theatre, her eyes darted to the seats where Oikawa and Iwaizumi usually sit, a few rows behind her own. Not seeing either of them there finally made her realize that neither of them have morning classes on Mondays.

 _Oh… Right…_

She sighed in relief, knowing she probably won't run into Oikawa until after lunch, meaning she could relax until then. Haruko had no plan on how to deal with… _this_ , and her brain was not cooperating in coming up with one.

Out of all the problems in her mind, the worst one… was the one where she had mixed feelings about what to do next.

She made her way to her seat while taking her scarf and jacket off, as well as dropping her bag on the table.

 _Why did you have to be so-_

"Hey, rough night, huh?"

Haruko's thoughts were cut off by the girl who was sitting next to her on Mondays. She smiled at the girl and nodded – the makeup she put on at the café probably wasn't enough to hide the tiredness and hangover.

Soon enough the lecture began, and Haruko did her best to focus.

* * *

 **AN:** …wow I am so sorry this took me a MONTH.

Honestly I got super stuck on the nsfw part and I am SO sorry if it's cringe-y? This is my first time writing anything sexual and like… I did NOT expect that to be so hard to write. I've never been this stuck on a chapter. Me: haha yeah I have yeaaars of relationship experience, how hard can it be? Answer: VERY.

I'll take your feedback on board and depending on that I will be adjusting the story to either have more or less nsfw content. Originally I was literally gonna base a lot of the story on that (hence the spoiler-y tags, avoid looking at them if you want a surprise lmao cause some of you already noticed em) but it depends on what you guys wanna see? So yeah let me know. I can't tell if what I wrote is cringeworthy or not, I think it's okay cause I edited it like 7 times but I've been staring at it for so long I can't tell anymore. :')

Once again, super sorry for the wait! Love you guys!


	16. Chapter 16

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 16**

 _This isn't my apartment._

Holding his head (as if that would help his mad hangover) and squinting after _just_ waking up, Oikawa sat on the bed dumbfounded. After his alarm went off, he jumped from his sleep, scurrying around for his phone to turn it off – he only sets his alarm for Mondays as a precaution, since he has class after lunch and usually he's awake by then anyway. But today he wasn't, and not only that, this indeed wasn't his apartment.

"…Hello?"

No answer. The headache wasn't helping him remember where he is and what happened at all. He looked at his phone and did a double-take when he saw the time.

"Shit!"

12:57pm. That gave him exactly 33 minutes to get ready and get to class from god knows where he was. He opened his map app on his phone, sighing in relief that he was within walking distance of the university. He left the figuring out what happened part for later and got up to collect his clothes – the fact that he was shirtless in someone else's bed was a little worrying, but he didn't have the time to think about that now.

Adjusting his glasses, he quickly texted Iwaizumi before getting ready.

* * *

 _From: Oikawa_

 _To: Iwa-chan_

Hey I'll meet you at the gates today

* * *

 _From: Iwa-chan_

 _To: Oikawa_

What, why? I'm almost at your place

* * *

 _From: Oikawa_

 _To: Iwa-chan_

I'm not home

* * *

 _From: Iwa-chan_

 _To: Oikawa_

…okay?

* * *

Oikawa raised an eyebrow at his best friend's flat response. He was a little surprised that Iwaizumi didn't even question him, usually he was such a dad. Maybe he was having a hard morning too?

Oikawa shook his head and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Whatever, now wasn't the time. He continued trying to make himself look human in front of a mirror in someone's _super tiny_ bathroom. He mentally thanked whatever higher power blessed him with good looks – he didn't look ideal, but he could still pass as simply tired looking, nothing more. Still, he wasn't satisfied.

He walked out and went back into the living room. Though the living room was pretty much a living room, study, bedroom and hallway all in one.

 _How does anyone fit anything in here…_

He looked around for anything that could help him look more decent. With a little less than 20 minutes left until class, he didn't get to be picky, and soon his eyes caught on a plain burgundy scarf in between some coats. He could have sworn he's seen it somewhere before…

Well, whoever's the scarf was, it was his now. Was this stealing? Eh, serves them right for leaving him alone in their apartment. He wrapped it around his neck and all the way up to his nose – if anything, he could pretend he has a cold. He's tired and he has a cold. Good enough of an explanation until he gets back to his own apartment to clean up properly.

Wasting no time, Oikawa head towards the door and noticed a bright yellow post-it note on it.

"pls leave keys under doormat thanks"

There was also a little arrow pointing to the keys in the keyhole below. The note was clearly scribbled in a hurry, as if someone was trying to leave as quickly as possible, but he was glad that at least the person didn't lock him in.

Doing as he is told, he locked up, left the keys under the doormat and went towards the elevator. The 'ding!' noise it made seemed so familiar, and so did the elevator itself on the inside…

 _Right, I was probably in here last night… If I can barely remember anything, I doubt I was in a state to use the stairs…_

Oikawa never wanted to be in his own apartment more than when he stepped outside. How the hell did it get so cold overnight? He only had a hoodie on; taking that scarf was a good idea. He took his phone out, double-checked the map and pretty much power-walked to university, which warmed him up at least a little.

It didn't take him long to get to the gates, and once he arrived he saw Iwaizumi standing nearby, yawning.

Wait, yawning? Past lunch? Early bird Iwa-chan? Was… was he wearing what he wore last night?

 _Why is it that I can remember what Iwa-chan wore, but nothing more useful than that?_

He walked over to his best friend, giving him a small nod and a 'hey'. Within the two seconds it took Iwaizumi to reply, Oikawa looked over his outfit and, well, him altogether. Iwa was definitely wearing the same thing he wore last night, all except for a scarf that didn't belong to him, so ironically they _both_ had scarves that belonged to strangers. He never wore scarves, the man hates them, so he was clearly hiding whatever was under it, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it is. Not only that, he looked like he barely got any sleep, and Oikawa had so, _so_ many questions.

Then again, so did Iwaizumi. Since when does his wannabe fashion icon of a best friend wear the same outfit two days in a row? But god, he wasn't about to have a game of twenty questions. Too early, too hungover, too about-to-be-late-to-class.

Iwaizumi, saying a "mm" for a hello back, stretched out his arm, at the end of which was a cup of hot coffee. A bribe to shut the hell up. For now, at least.

And Oikawa was happy to take that bribe. Chugging coffee, both of them made their way to the main building in silence.

Walking through the hallway with just a few minutes left until their lecture begins, Oikawa was yawning and trying to figure out just how he was going to survive the entire three hour long class, with very few breaks. And he had volleyball practice after that, too… This was going to be a long day.

Finally, the boys reached their destination and went into the lecture theatre. On Monday afternoons, Oikawa had pretty much developed a reflex to wave to Haruko, since they don't see each other until after lunch. The moment he looked at her, he was met with her curious eyes, making his own widen and stopping him in his tracks.

 _Oh._

 _Haruko._

…

 _OH._

Iwaizumi smashed into him without realizing his friend stopped in front of him so abruptly, spewed some curse words at him and something about it being 'too early for this shit', and shoved him a little to keep going up the stairs towards their row of seats. That snapped Oikawa out of it for a second and he did so, but his head was a mess.

All it took was seeing her again and everything came back to him.

* * *

If Oikawa didn't remember last night before, it was obvious that he did now.

When Haruko saw him have a very clear realization of what happened, her own eyes shot back at her notes, a million of 'shitfuckgoddamnit's going through her head. She was banking on him forgetting what happened so much, and clearly that didn't work out.

 _NOW WHAT?_

She could feel his eyes nearly piercing through her from a few rows behind. She sunk her head in her hands, absolutely lost on what to do next. The lecture was going on already, though whatever their professor was saying went into one ear and out through the other.

 _Wait… is he wearing my scarf?_

Well, the last thing she wanted to do was to look back at him to check. She could just use her tablet screen _like in the old days_ , but she was afraid to do even that much. Confrontation sucks. Especially after… _that_.

As the lecture went on, Haruko decided there was no way she could face him right now. Or today, or ever. Maybe she doesn't have to? Maybe this was all going to blow over and things are gonna go back to normal like nothing happened and everyone will be-

 _Oh for god's sake I nearly slept with the man, he had his face between my legs, this is NOT going to blow over…_

Trying to reason with herself wasn't helping the hangover. Neither were the memories of last night. The moral and right thing to do was probably talking to each other and laughing it off or something, but she had a nagging feeling in the back of her head, telling her to do something… else.

Haruko decided to call the one person who knows his way around one-night stands later and ask for advice. Surely, she can avoid Oikawa until then. Right?.. Right?

 _Oh god, volleyball practice._

Then again, he would be focused on the actual practice. Hopefully.

* * *

A few rows behind Haruko, Oikawa was losing his shit. Quietly, but he was.

Worst part? He can't even tell anyone. He can't even ask anyone for advice on what to do, shit, if Iwa-chan found out, he would kill him! And so would his teammates!

Pretending he is focusing on the lecture, he sunk into his chair and into the scarf around his neck. This was her scarf, wasn't it? It was her apartment, so it had to be her scarf.

It smelled like her, anyway.

Oikawa mentally slapped himself. Out of all the things he was feeling, there was one thing missing, and that was regret. He couldn't even lie to himself, he would do it all over again, and the song from last night wouldn't leave him alone.

 _Still, I'd trade all my tomorrows, for just one yester-AUGHHH NO._

He closed his eyes and sunk into the scarf even more. This was bad. She was a good friend, a great one even, and right after they sorted their differences out, right after everything went back to being nice and dandy, _this_ had to happen.

Oikawa knew he needed to talk to her. For one thing, he had no idea how she felt about what happened. But how do you even bring something like this up? Actually, how do you even start talking to someone you're friends with, but like… gave them an orgasm some hours ago?

 _How do people even deal with the aftermath of one-night stands..?_

His thoughts took a more depressing route towards the fact that this was the first time he's been with anyone like that since Mao. Wasn't he supposed to feel more regret, or in this case, _any_ regret at all, seeing as it was nothing more than just… fun? No feelings, just irresponsible, mindless, reckless fun?

…Actually, why _should_ he feel any regret?

And… did she?

 _I really need to talk to her._

* * *

 **AN:** this chapter is a bit short and I was gonna continue it to be about twice as long, but it's 12:30am and I have uni tomorrow. But I really wanted to update because I felt super bad for leaving you guys with no updates for over a month!

Thing is, I was on holiday but ended up spending less time at my laptop than ever. We were hosting xmas this year too so it was actually quite a bit of work. Ironically I have more time/energy to update while I have uni? Yeah, don't question it. I don't know either.

I'll be honest, because I was barely at my laptop, I was barely listening to music, and I kinda lost inspiration for this. Re-visiting all the songs that inspired me to write this really fired me up to get back to this fic, so I figured I might as well share them? Please don't feel obliged to listen to them though, I have a weird music taste that's all over the place lol.

If you look up 'misshealthpotion' on youtube, there's a playlist called 98 percent. (I'll keep adding to it, too) The first three songs are literally what inspired this whole mess, the rest are random, they're not in any specific order, and some more depressing ones (lookin' at you, Daughter) are either for Kiyoko or from a chapter that hasn't happened yet. What, you think I'm gonna skip out on what happened to Haruko and Teru on that messed up road trip? Who do u take me for?

Anyway, thank you for sticking around to anyone who has! My update schedule is non-exsistent and I imagine that can be frustrating. Sorry about that!


	17. Chapter 17

**98 percent**

 **Chapter 17**

"Dismissed."

Haruko didn't need to be told twice. The moment their professor ended the lecture she shoved her tablet into her bag, slung it over her shoulder and left the lecture theatre at the speed of light without looking back. Until she could find enough time to call Terushima and figure out what the _hell_ to do, while also enduring his endless teasing about the whole situation, she was going to do her best to avoid Oikawa. This was going to be a long conversation, so she figured she would do it after volleyball practice finished.

But first she had to survive volleyball practice.

Avoiding their usual squad sofa, she made her way straight to the extremely overpriced university café on the ground floor. Not a lot of students went there, meaning she could a) get some peace and quiet to calm down and b) get some more glorious, albeit very expensive, coffee.

Said coffee in hand, she slumped into one of the empty seats, exhaling heavily. This was going to be such a long day.

"Whoa, rough night?"

She looked up at Maki taking a seat in front of her. The café was nearby the university's entrance, he must have just come in. So much for some quiet time.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Haruko pondered. Did she really look that bad?

Maki raised his eyebrow with amusement on his face. "Don't tell me you don't know _that's_ there?"

He pointed a finger at her, just a little below her head. Haruko looked down at her shirt, stretching it even, but found nothing on it. She looked back at Maki and gave him a questioning look.

"Wow." He had a huge shit-eating grin on his face and it was starting to get on Haruko's nerves. He pointed at his neck, making the girl feel around her own. Once she placed her hand on the right side, a jolt of pain went through it, and she squinted. She picked up her bag and started rummaging through it for her pocket mirror.

Once Haruko took it out and flicked it open to see just what is causing so much amusement for Maki, her eyes widened.

She slammed the pocket mirror on the table, grabbed her scarf and wrapped it around her neck in a swift motion.

"Fuck." she muttered.

Maki, on the other hand, was losing it. "I can't believe- pff I can't believe you didn't know that's there! Shit, like, that's not even a hickey anymore, that's a damn bruise! You wild wow ahaha-"

Haruko groaned. How did she not see it before? She figured she must have missed it when doing her makeup because she had the scarf on the entire time, all the way till she came to class. Which meant that Oikawa saw his handiwork as well. And so did half of the lecture theatre, probably. She put her forehead on the table, drowning in embarrassment.

"You look just as defeated as the whole team will be when they find out you have a boyfriend." Maki chuckled.

"I _don't_."

Haruko said it without thinking it through and immediately regretted the action, which was followed by Maki's intrigued "Oh?".

She lifted her head and glared at him. "Don't get any ideas."

Maki put his hands in front of himself in defense. "I won't, I won't. But, seriously, you should come party with us sometime. The only party-Ikeda we see is the aftermath one every Monday, and that 'I don't have the time' excuse isn't gonna work again."

Haruko smiled. At least he quickly dropped the teasing. "Fine, fine. I'll ask my manager if I can leave early this Friday. Sound good?"

"As good as I'm gonna get, so, yes. You going to practice today?"

She watched him take a sip of his coffee and remembered to drink her own. "Um… I'm not sure." she said, an idea sparking in her mind. "I might talk to the coach and just work on some managery-stuff outside or something. I honestly need some fresh air, I'm pretty sure I still have alcohol in my system."

"In this weather? It's like 10'C outside."

"I know, but the wind calmed down. It's not as bad as it was this morning."

"Whatever you say."

They continued talking until it was time for Maki to go change for practice. After he left Haruko behind, she decided to find the coach and talk about changing up her activities for the day.

* * *

"-I'm telling you, it looked more like a bruise than a hickey. I don't know what the hell she's into but I _so_ want to find out."

Oikawa and Iwaizumi walked into their club room to change, immediately greeted by Maki going on about something dirty again. That was the only thing going on in that man's head 24/7.

"I don't think Ikeda's boyfriend would be too happy hearing you say that."

Ah. Right. Haruko. Of course one of them saw the bruise he left on her neck last night.

Oikawa tried to ignore the sickening pride he felt about it.

"She said she doesn't have one!"

The several "Oh?"s following got on his nerves, though.

"That's what I said! Free game, my dudes."

"Ugh, Maki."

"Dude."

"No."

"You wanna drink some 'respecting women' juice, Maki?"

The last comment came from a really irritated Oikawa, and for some reason he had to hear it loud and clear.

"Oh please, as if you've never wanted to bone her? Come on."

Oikawa sighed, holding himself back from saying 'already did'. Not like he actually did, anyway.

"She's one of my best friends, Maki." he said, turning away from his locker.

"And? Don't pretend you don't look at her the same way the rest of us do."

Everyone else was quiet. None of them could disagree with Maki, and none of them had the guts to interrupt or say anything themselves. Even Iwaizumi decided to stay quiet for now, but he was ready to go in between them if things got out of hand.

"Oh _no_ , I have _eyes_ , how _shocking_. There's a difference between thinking these things and announcing every person you want to _fuck_. In case you haven't noticed, none of us want to hear it. And that's not even it, it's _how_ you talk about these things, and Ike-chan specifically, that pisses me off." Oikawa spat. "She's not _'free game'_. She's not a prize to be won; she's a human being for fuck's sake."

"So I said what everyone else was thinking, big whoop. Including you, actually, you've just said it yourself. You're literally thinking the same thing we all are, and yet, you're the one lecturing me somehow?"

Oikawa had to hold himself from flinching. He wasn't expecting Maki to be smart enough to come up with good arguments. And the fact that _he was the one who left the goddamn bruise on her neck_ wasn't helping.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Maki chuckled.

Oh, now that was the _last_ thing Oikawa was going to admit.

So he rolled his eyes. "You know what, this is none of my business. Do what you want."

He turned back to his locker to continue changing. "But don't come back crying when she sees you for the person you really are. She's not stupid, you know."

Oikawa ignored Maki's annoyed 'tch'. The club room was quiet, and boy was it awkward, but no one had the nerve to start talking again, so the boys finished getting ready and head out in silence, chit-chat between team members breaking out only when they started heading towards the gym in small groups.

"You're walking on thin ice, Trashykawa."

Oikawa glanced over to his irritated, though mostly worried, best friend. It's just an argument with a teammate, it wasn't even that bad.

"What-"

"Just be careful if you're gonna keep going."

Before Oikawa could process what he said or ask why Iwaizumi is so worried about some shitty argument, a few other teammates joined them to chat while they were on their way to practice.

Once they reached the gym, his mind almost unwillingly wandered to Haruko again. He looked around, only seeing coach Mukai, but no manager-chan in sight.

Oikawa sighed and mentally facepalmed himself. Knowing her, she was most likely avoiding him.

 _Why are you like this, Ike-chan…_

For the rest of the day, he tried his best to focus on practice, instead of playing out the conversation he was going to have with her in his head.

* * *

The next time Oikawa saw Haruko was during their end of the day run. Most of the guys were doing their runs inside the gym, though for Oikawa, being the Mr. Extra that he is, the gym was too small and it's wasn't _that_ cold outside anymore.

Still too cold to be running in just booty-shorts though, so before that he went to change into his winter sports outfit, leggings and teal shorts included. Before he could put in his earphones for a relaxing run, his eyes caught on a familiar jacket.

Haruko was sitting on a bench outside, not too far from their club room. She seemed to be talking on the phone with someone.

Oikawa took a deep breath and started walking towards her. He was going to talk it over, and they were going to laugh it off, leaving last night as a distant and pleasant memory, rather than something that would get in the way of their friendship.

And he would get over the fact that he'll never hear her say his name the way she did last night.

Oikawa slowed down when he got closer, not wanting to startle her. He was behind the girl, unsure of what to do next. Should he wait for her to finish talking? Should he let her know he's there?

"Teru, that's… that's not the problem."

…Or should he eavesdrop?

* * *

"Why is it that every time you find comfort in someone, you bang them?"

The coach, unfortunately, didn't let her Haruko the hook that easily. With the tournament coming up, there was plenty of paperwork to take care of, and by the time Haruko was done, the day was almost gone. Avoiding any curious ears was hard at university, so she found a lonely bench outside and dialed Terushima's number. Needless to say, he was getting a kick out of the situation.

"Oh my fucking god, Teru, will you let that _one_ time go already? And I didn't bang him, we just… we did… some stuff."

"…I can't believe you got Oikawa-fucking-Tooru in your bed and didn't sleep with him. What is _wrong_ with you, woman? I've been trying to get his number for months!"

Haruko groaned. "I regret calling you…"

"Alright, alright," Terushima chuckled, "well, what do you want _me_ to do?"

"Give me advice, I don't know? I just… it's weird, okay? Like, you have constant one-night-stands with people, how do you deal with them the next day?"

"I don't."

"What?"

"I don't! I don't sleep with people I'll see the next day! Or ever."

Now it was Haruko's turn to tease. "And you haven't run out of people to sleep with like that?"

A sarcastic "ha ha" came from the other end.

Haruko snorted. "Sorry, sorry, I had to."

"Okay, look," he started after a pause, "not to be the guy that 'won't let go of that _one_ time', but you've been through the same thing before. With me. So like, just talk it out - we did. Oikawa's a decent guy, I mean I don't know him too well, but from what you've told me so far, like… I'm sure you can work it out and leave it behind you, I dunno?"

Haruko paused. Oh boy.

"Teru, that's… that's not the problem."

"Eh?"

"I said that's not the problem. I _know_ Oikawa and I can talk it out. That's not what my problem is."

"…Well then what _is_ your problem?"

She paused again. Terushima Yuuji is about to have a field day.

"I… That is… He, uh…"

"Out with it, woman, I don't got all day."

"…He was… really good and I kinda wanna do it again?"

A pause.

"Ah."

"Oh, _really_?"

Haruko's neck nearly snapped doing a 180 to look behind her. The "Ah." came from Terushima on the other end of the line. The second, sickeningly smug bit came from someone else.

Oikawa-fucking-Tooru, the eavesdropping asshole. He was leisurely leaning on the back of the bench, arm supporting his stupid face with his stupid shit-eating grin on it.

Glaring at him, while also burning up like mad, Haruko had to force her voice from going squeaky.

"I'LL CALL YOU BACK."

"Was… Haru-chan, was that him?"

"I SAID I'LL CALL YOU BACK, BYE."

Before she could press the End Call button, she could hear Terushima losing his shit on the other end.

A million curse words were going through her head as she was staring down at her phone.

"Has _anyone_ taught you that eavesdropping is rude?" she said in a defeated tone.

"Yes, but I've found that listening in on people's conversations is a lot of fun!"

His voice was too cheerful for his own good.

"You are _such_ an asshole…"

"Not what you called me last night."

Wow. Haruko was going to have none of that. "Oh, _please_ , enlighten me," she said sarcastically, looking up at him again, "what _did_ I call you last night? _Your majesty_ or some shit?"

"No," he started, his expression softer than it was before, "just… Tooru."

Haruko got taken aback by that – his expression combined with what he said was a little more powerful of a comeback than she expected.

His face went back to how it was a second later, though.

"Loudly." he added.

"Oh MY FUCGHRHRRRRRRRR-" Haruko groaned, sinking her head into her hands, trying to somehow tune out Oikawa laughing his butt off. "What do you want from meeeee…"

Still laughing, Oikawa put his hands in his pockets and made his way around the bench to sit next to her. "Nothing!" he started, " _What_ are you even so upset about? If it's the teasing, honestly, did you _not_ expect me to tease you about it? Who do you take me for?"

Haruko sighed, lifting her head from her hands, though not at a stage to look at him yet. "I don't… know? I guess?"

He was right. That's literally how he is.

But seeing her so defeated made Oikawa spare her.

"Alright, look," he said, still chuckling from his previous fit, "you've said it yourself, we can talk it out. And if we both know that, then there isn't even a reason to talk it out. We both had some fun last night, so what? It's just one night."

He was an asshole, but he knew when to be sincere. Finally, Haruko looked up at him and sighed. "I guess you're right… I may be making this into a bigger deal than it is…"

"I'm always right."

Ah, there it is. That stupid grin of his. The grin Haruko can't help but snort at and shake her head.

She watched him get up and eyed his attire. She's never seen him wear leggings before, that was definitely a new look. She figured he was doing his end of the day run.

"Though…" he spoke up again, snapping Haruko out of staring at his legs. Oikawa was fixing up his jacket, getting ready to go. "If I can quote you on one last thing from last night…"

Haruko was about to make a face.

If it wasn't for what he heard her say on the phone, Oikawa wasn't going to push his luck, but…

"Live a little."

She could have sworn he was trying to wipe off the most devilish smirk off his face before he ran off.

 _What's_ that _supposed to mean?.._

* * *

 _From: Teru_

 _To: Haruko_

You alive lol?

* * *

 _From: Haruko_

 _To: Teru_

Sort of.

* * *

 _From: Teru_

 _To: Haruko_

Pff okay you wanna hang out later?

* * *

 _From: Haruko_

 _To: Teru_

You just want in on more drama don't you?

* * *

 _From: Teru_

 _To: Haruko_

Yes + I need some new clothes and I want companyyyy

* * *

Haruko rolled her eyes and typed out a quick 'sure' on her phone. Not even 10 minutes after Oikawa left for his run, she heard another teammate of hers shouting her name.

"Yo, Ikeda-san!"

She turned around to see Toyo (or _whatever_ his name was), one of their third-years and team regulars, approaching her. He seemed to be in a hurry.

"Hey hey." she gave him a small wave.

"Listen, since you're still here, mind locking up the club room for me? I'm so sorry, but I have an evening shift at work and I really need to go! Oikawa's things are still in there, I don't think he came back from his run yet and I don't want to-"

Haruko grabbed the keys from his hand and chuckled, "Go, go, this is what I'm here for."

Toyo smiled saying several 'thank you's and stormed off. After all, Oikawa was held up with her, it's the least she could do.

Plus she was their manager, it was kind of her job to help out.

She got up and started heading towards the building where all the club rooms were at. It wasn't far, but she could understand that waiting for Oikawa to come back hell knows when isn't the best scenario when you're late to work.

Their club room was on the first floor. Haruko head straight there spinning the keys around her index finger. The light inside was on and the door was slightly open. With no second thought, she opened it and took a few steps in, ready to wait for Oikawa to come back.

Looking up she realized that he was already back.

He was also taking his shirt off.

The only time she saw him shirtless was in dim light, but here? Here all she could do was ogle at him and his well-toned body in its full, well-lit glory.

"Hey, Ike-chan."

"I'm-fuck sorry." she muttered, and after looking at him noticed he was raising a very amused eyebrow at her. Her cheeks started burning up thinking about how she looked while staring at him. "I, uh, Toyo, he gave me… keys. To lock up. Since you weren't here. If… that makes sense."

It's like one look at this man's shirtless self was robbing her of the ability to speak properly.

Oikawa looked back at his locker and tried his best not to giggle at her terribly poor attempt to hide how flustered she is. "That's fine, just close the door, it's cold."

He made sure to fold his shirt as slowly as possible.

"Uh… yeah, sure…"

She did as told and looked back at his once again very amused face.

"…What?"

Silently chuckling, Oikawa turned back to his locker again. He shook his head slightly.

 _Fuck it._

Oikawa then decided he's going to push his luck till the end today.

He went over to the stiff girl standing a few steps away from him in their tiny club room.

"When I said close the door…" he lifted his hand up, motioning her to give him the keys, which she did, unable to realize why he wanted them now, "I meant _behind_ you. From the _outside_ , since, you know, I'm changing. But… I guess I don't mind you watching."

Giving her a _way_ too suggestive look, he walked past her, and left her standing there swearing at herself in her head. Even when she gave him the keys, Haruko couldn't help herself from glancing down, and she _knows_ he saw.

Her mind was torn between _'please put your shirt back on'_ and _'destroy me'_ and it was _killing_ her.

Not like she was given a lot of time to think, anyway. The click of a door being locked behind her made her turn around and regret the reflex immediately because 'oh, right, shirtless Oikawa'.

How can anyone look this good?

 _...Wait, did he just lock the door?_

"What are you-…"

Haruko watched him take the key out of the lock, two other keys dangling on the keychain it was on.

She watched him hold the keys in front of him.

She watched his other hand stretch out the band at the front of his shorts… and probably leggings. And boxers.

And she watched him drop the keys in, followed by a snap when he let the band go. All that with a completely blank expression on his face.

Oikawa lifted his hands in the air, as if what he did just now was illegal. Which, really, it should have been.

He kept looking at her with a blank (yet somehow still smug?) expression, waiting for a response. Haruko was staring at the 'show' he put on in disbelief, and only after a pause, spoke up with the first thing that came to her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Oikawa tilted his head and raised his eyebrows, giving her a silent 'what's it gonna be?'.

Haruko knew she could leave. She could have just asked, and Oikawa would have apologized, and everything would have went back to normal the next day.

 _Live a little._

"…Ah, fuck it…"

Yet somehow, moments later, her back slammed into one of the lockers, while her legs were around Oikawa's waist and his hands were on her bottom, holding her up.

And even though Oikawa's head was clouded by the rough make out, he still made a point to slam her into Maki's locker out of spite.

Because fuck that guy.

* * *

 **AN:** you guys… the newest hq chapter… my skin is clear, my crops are growing... I changed this chapter up just to have him in leggings because oh my god… thank u furudate for giving me a reasons to live… I missed him so much wtf…

also uh reminder that Maki aint Hanamakki, it's just some rando fuckboy whos in their uni.

ANYWAY WE'RE HERE NOW. Even wrote a longer chapter than I was planning. It'sa happenin'. It's almost unreal how long it took me to make 'em throw themselves at each other. IT'S TIME LADS.

... "one night" my ass lol


	18. UPDATE - moved to AO3

Hi! All updates will now only be on AO3, under the same name:

 **User: HealthPotion**

 **Fic name: 98 percent**

AO3 is just much more comfortable and I'm a little sick of cross-posting. There has been a new chapter added today, sorry it took me so long!

I also spruced up the first few chapters to be less cringey and more natural, so if you're re-reading to remember what the hell was going on, it might be a bit of a rollercoaster where the first chapters are better, then it gets a little worse and then better again. Figured my first few chapters are like, a landing for this fic, so I decided to update them a little to make more people read my trashy fic :D

See you on AO3!


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